Mobile Suit Alternate Gundam
by MontagJ
Summary: The One Year War is at a stalemate.  The EFSF begins experimenting with forming a formal mobile suit unit.  Six soldiers are plucked from different sections of the military to create the experimental "1st MS Unit".  The stalemate is about to be broken!
1. Engagement 1: New Orders

Looks like I'm finally doing a Gundam story. I'm sure this has been done before, but this is a story set during the One Year War based on the video game "Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon" for the PS2. I may change some things from the game or show to better fit the story or the medium. I'm pretty knowledgeable about Gundam, so if you see something that looks off, it was probably done on purpose. (Feel free to point whatever you like out though, just in case.) This is Mobile Suit Alternate Gundam.

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><p>Rhythmic footsteps echoed through an abandoned hanger in the Earth Federation Space Force underground HQ, Jaburo. The cause was a young man (he looked like he was only a teenager) wearing a military uniform and carrying documents. He looked over the orders again.<p>

"Report to Federation headquarters in Jaburo immediately. There you will be assigned to the new Autonomous '1st Mobile Suit Unit'. You will engage the enemy independently on all fronts and test the new mobile suits in actual battle. Good luck."

"What a pain."

At the end of the hanger was a small room previously used by the maintenance crews when there were aircraft to be stored here. The Federation was going through some tough times. With the discovery of cold fusion, and the RADAR jamming "Minovsky Particles" the reaction gives off, long-range missiles became all but useless. When the war started seven months ago by the rebelling space colonists, the Federation's outdated arsenal got eaten alive by the giant "mobile suits", humanoid fighting machines. Even though the Principality of Zeon had only a fraction of the population and resources of the Federation, they were able to bring the battle to a stalemate.

The door opened to reveal about a dozen people scattered around the small room. "Good," an authoritative-looking woman sitting at a table in the center of the room said, "Everyone is here on time."

"I'm Lieutenant Ken Etto," the newcomer said, saluting. Ken looked very average, with brown hair and eyes.

"My name is Nicolas Rolin," said a boy in the corner. He looked far too young to be in the room. His sandy hair and bright blue eyes gave him an innocent look unbefitting a soldier. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Rick Holdarin," another said. He looked much more like a soldier with his buzz cut, broad shoulders, and arrogant sneer.

"Pat Stevens," still another said, balancing himself in a reclined position on a wooden chair. He spoke calmly and quietly, a stark contrast from the bombastic Holdarin. He had a tall, thin frame and black hair. He kept his eyes mostly closed, only quickly glancing at the newcomer over his shoulder.

"Hello," a bubbly-looking woman said cheerfully and waved, "My name is Ashley Hanss." She seemed as out of place as Nicolas, seeming more like a collage freshman than anything else. He blond hair was cut short and she had mesmerizing hazel eyes.

"I am Tommy Valcos," a man with dark brown said. He was tall and muscular, with an intense expression.

More people introduced themselves to each other until the only one left was the woman who addressed Ken when he arrived. She was clearly the oldest in the room, and she couldn't have been more than thirty. She had long, striking red hair and emerald eyes. "My name is Major Suzan Marcan. I will be in charge of the 1st Mobile Suit Unit."

"Oh, fantastic," Holdarin groaned loudly.

"Excuse me," Ashley snapped, "You got a problem with a woman in charge?"

"Whatever," Holdarin scoffed.

"It doesn't matter if you like this arrangement or not," Major Marcan said before an argument could start. "We are going to be the Federation's first attempt at an organized mobile suit force. For all intents and purposes, we're guinea pigs. If this experiment works, we may finally close the gap with the Zeon forces and end this war. Until it does, however, our existence will be kept confidential. Etto, Hanss, Holdarin, Stevens, and Valcos. You six will be the Federation's first mobile suit pilots."

"But ma'am," Nicolas spoke up, "The Federation doesn't have any mobile suits…"

"Actually, that's why we've all been called here today," Marcan continued, "We are here for the final tests of the mobile suit GM (pronounced Jim). It's a preproduction model that can only be used on earth, but we intend to use them to combat the Zeon Zaku."

"When do we begin?" Tommy asked.

"Right now if you're ready."

Everyone agreed and filed out of the room. Soon the group was divided about in half. The six mobile suit pilots were taken to another hanger that contained a human-shaped light brown robot a few stories high. They were each given a quick lesson on how to pilot the mobile suit. Since each of them had experience operating complex computers and machines, they all picked it up naturally.

"Now that you're acquainted with how to operate the Ground Combat GM, we usually just like to call it the GM G, we'd like you to test its performance against some Zakus we've captured," the technician who taught them said.

Nicolas expressed the general reaction of the group. "But we've never even tried to make this thing walk, how can we use it in combat?"

"Both you and your opponents will be using simunitions," the tech said, "We just want to gauge your and this unit's combat effectiveness as quickly as possible. You can also move around in the unit as much as you like before the test starts to get a feel for it."

"You guys as a bunch of cowards!" Holdarin exclaimed, even though just a moment ago the idea seemed just as absurd to him, "I'll go first, and I'll take out every one of those Zakus!"

The other five pilots decided it would be better to let the loudmouth have his way for now and hope he gets knocked out by the first enemy. Those five were escorted away, since they might have an unfair advantage if they saw the practice engagement in advance. They relaxed in a nearby break room, some exchanging more introductions. Pat and Ken seemed to actively avoid the conversation, though Tommy didn't talk much either. That left Ashley and Nicolas to do most of the talking. At some point though, Ashley addressed Ken.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" she asked carefully.

"Whatever," Ken responded, never tearing his eyes away from a very interesting section of the plain white wall.

"Are you the same Ken Etto that defeated a whole division of Zakus with only a handful of Type-61 Tanks?" there was an inquisitiveness to her voice now, "The one they call the Blue Owl?"

"It was, like, five Zakus," Ken said, an impatient tone in his voice, "And we had them badly outnumbered."

"That was you?" Nicolas exclaimed, "No wonder you were chosen for this unit! All the officers are buzzing about you!"

"Yeah!" Ashley began, "I heard that…"

"You heard wrong!" Ken snapped. He got up and started toward the water cooler on the other side of the room, quietly saying "I don't want to talk about it…"

"Grouch…" Ashley complained.

One by one they took the test. When Holdarin returned he admitted to only getting two before he was tagged. Pat went next, but went to his quarters right after he finished. He had downed three opponents. Tommy went next, also getting three targets. Ashley went after that and was able to get four targets, Nicolas went fifth and accomplished the same. Since Ken was last, everyone watched him as he tested the GM G. Holdarin decided not to stick around to watch, leaving Tommy, Ashley, and Nicolas. Expectations were high.

On the surface of Jaburo, the lush jungle of South America, Ken quickly ran through the basic functions of his mobile suit. He remembered everything. He was ready. He stepped into the clearing that was the starting area, the Amazon River, which had been deepened to accommodate any naval vessels that needed to enter the base, roared nearby.

"When you hit your opponents with your machine gun, you'll see a splotch of red paint on them, they are out. You've been given a practice beam saber that will shut down your enemies' controls if you get a good hit," the controller informed, "But if you get even a drop of blue paint from the Zakus' guns on you, you've lost. Got it?"

"Roger."

Instantly a Zaku attacked from within the jungle. Ken easily avoided it and painted the Zaku red. Another one charged aggressively from another direction. Ken took to the air, easily avoiding the attack and dispatched the offender. A third attacked with a missile launcher while Ken was in the air. The thrusters easily pushed the GM G out of the way. Once landed, Ken drew the beam saber with the left hand and shut his enemy down. He trained his gun and fired at the next enemy before he was even a threat. That was tied with the best performance of the day so far. Suddenly, Ken noticed a flash on a distant hill on the other side of the river. He instinctively moved out of the way to avoid the incoming simulated artillery shell. Ken rushed for the river and submerged.

"I lost him!" the Zaku pilot gasped. He waited for the GM G to reappear.

Ken popped out of the water almost behind the Zaku. The Zaku's warning alarm wasn't fast enough and the sim rounds impacted. Another Zaku appeared from the river and fired at the GM's back, but again, Ken boosted out of the way and countered before his opponent could react. Next a pair of Zakus attacked from a small island covered in trees. One fired a long volley of machine gun shells, and the other launching missiles. Ken barely avoided the attack and sprayed the island with gunfire. Only a few rounds hit, but two more were down. Two more attacked, taking cover behind Jaburo's defenses. The three mobile suits exchanged gunfire, but quickly the two Zaku pilots noticed the GM G had stopped firing. Thinking he was out of ammo, the Zakus started advancing toward the riverbank, since Ken had landed on the island the other pair of Zakus had been on.

To their shock, the GM burst out of the water just in front of them. The Zaku pilots were too shocked to act. Ken blasted the closer one with the remainder of his clip and discarded his carbine while still in the air. By the time he landed, he had already drawn his beam saber. This broke the remaining Zaku pilot's stupor and he tried to fire, but Ken batted the rifle out of the Zaku's hand with the small shield attached to the GM G's left arm. Finally, he drove the harmless practice beam saber through the Zaku's cockpit, shutting it down instantly.

There was dead silence in the control center. "That's all of them…" the control officer finally said.

Ken reclined in the GM G's cockpit and sighed. "What a pain…"

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><p>I had the opportunity to make the main character in one of my stories a fighter pilot and I passed it up? Have I gone mad? Am I an imposter? What's going on here? Yeah, I could have made Ken a fighter pilot, but I can create a better backstory with this. I think this is a good start to Alternate Gundam. Obviously it's not my place to say, but <strong>I<strong> like it.


	2. Engagement 2: Guerilla Tactics

I'm almost optimistic that I won't be in a mad rush to get this done in time. Of course I've been procrastinating just as much as usual, but whatever. This is the 1st Mobile Suit Unit's first battle.

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><p>The 1st MS Unit only had a few days to train before they had to be deployed. A transport ship took them north. With them were the only two GM Gs the Federation had. Not even Major Marcan was told what their mission, or even where they were going. Not until they neared their destination did they get the details of their first mission.<p>

One of the generals called from Jaburo. "Your first mission," he stated plainly, "is an attack on the Zeon-held city of New Yark."

Everyone from the pilots to the maintenance crew were shocked. New Yark was Zeon's third largest stronghold on earth. The city was filled with tanks, choppers, and mobile suits. It would be suicide to attack the city with only the two GM Gs!

"We will launch an assault to reclaim the city at 12:15 hours," the officer continued calmly, "Your job is to distract, and if possible destroy the enemy's mobile suit force. _Your_ mission will begin at 12:05 hours. Our allies' lives are in your hands, don't let them down!"

"They want us to attack New Yark with just two mobile suits?" Nicolas asked, "Have they lost their minds?"

"Nevertheless, that's our mission," Marcan said, her voice weighted. "Etto, you'll lead this mission."

"Why him?" Holdarin protested.

"'Cause he's the best mobile suit pilot out of all of us," Ashley said brightly, "Isn't that right, Ken?"

"Who will pilot the other GM G?" Ken asked, causing Ashley to growl quietly at being ignored.

"I'll leave that to you," Marcan said, "We have an hour before the operation start time. I want to hear a plan in twenty minutes. Understand?"

"Ma'am," the pilots responded in unison.

Marcan and the mechanics left the room, leaving the six pilots. "Who are you going to take with you, sir?" Nicolas asked.

"I was planning on you," Ken said pointing to him.

"What? Me?" Nicolas gasped.

"Yeah," Holdarin asked, "why him?"

"Do you have a plan?" Tommy asked.

"I want to ingress from the northwest," Ken began, calling up an area map on the monitor in the room. "New Yark is sitting right on the Atlantic coast, so the only bases in the area are in the west."

"That's why we're coming by ship, they want us to attack from the east and draw the enemy away," Pat said, the first thing he had said all day.

"But if a small force attacks from the east, the Zeons will figure out it's a decoy," Tommy said, "That's why you want to go in from the west."

"Right," Ken affirmed, "The Zeons aren't stupid. That's why we're going to attack from the west and sweep east, toward the coast. We'll try to drag the defending forces with us. If we get trapped, we can just jump into the sea and escape. That's why I need you, Nicolas. You're best at making the GM G move quickly."

"So what?" Holdarin asked, "That just means he's good at running away!"

"Shut up, loudmouth!" Ashley snapped, "He did twice as good as you in training!" She turned to the young pilot, "You'll do fine, Nicolas." Both Tommy and Pat nodded in agreement.

"Well," Holdarin said with a sigh, "I guess you were chosen to be a mobile suit pilot for a reason… I guess you can handle it."

"Well…" Nicolas said, blushing a little, "If you all have such faith in me, how can I refuse?"

"Good," Ken said, "Let's report this to the Major."

"Wait," Ashley said, "How did you come up with a plan so fast?"

"I knew we'd have to go after New Yark eventually," Ken said, still heading to the door, "Just like California and Odessa. You need to think ahead on and off the battlefield." He beckoned Nicolas to follow and left the room.

"Remind me never to play chess with him," Tommy said.

"Uh-huh!" Ashley nodded.

"It's a risky plan," Marcan said after Ken finished his explanation. Clearly, she wasn't expecting to hear from Ken so soon and didn't want to make a rushed decision.

"I'm confident we can pull it off, ma'am," Ken said confidently.

Marcan sighed and smiled. "We'll drop you off as far north as we can, then station this ship as close to shore as we can. Do your best."

"Ma'am," they both saluted.

After they left and the door closed, Marcan shook her head sadly. "If only those kids could apply their minds to something other than war…"

Nicolas walked down the gangplank toward one of the GM G cockpits in his flight suit, helmet under his arm. His senses had all but shut off as he focused on the mission… and his nerves. He saw a shape come out of the GM's cockpit. He assumed it was one of the mechanics until he noticed the pilot's uniform.

Holdarin walked up to Nicolas and planted one of his big hands on the younger's head. "Good luck out there, Nicky," he said, ruffling Nicolas' hair, "Don't go and get yourself killed, these mobile suits are expensive!" Then he pushed past before Nicolas could say or do anything.

"Actually," Nicolas turned to say, "I prefer…" Too late, he was out of earshot.

The operation had just begun. Ken and Nicolas had made it pretty far into the city without any engagements. They had to find some mobile suits and draw some attention soon, the Federation's main force was only two minutes away! Finally, they spotted a pair of Zaku IIs on patrol.

"Take your time and make your shots count," Ken told Nicolas, "We want them to be able to report us."

"Yes sir."

Suddenly, they opened fire on one of the Zakus, blasting its head off with quick and accurate machine gun bursts. The first one dropped to the ground, lifeless as the other fired into the derelict building the GM Gs were using as cover.

"Good job," Marcan's voice said over the radio, "Thermal sensors have started to pick up a lot of movement. You've got their attention."

Ken and Nicolas circled around the blindly firing Zaku and dispatched it without any trouble, but then their position was attacked. They caught as much of the gunfire as they could and moved to cover. This time three Zakus tried to pin them down, but they moved quickly from block to block. With better RADAR, the GM Gs could keep just ahead of the Zakus while keeping just out of sight, despite the dense Minovsky Particle Density. One by one, they picked off the three Zakus. Staying in a pair, they moved east. Suddenly, a Bazooka-wielding Zaku appeared, firing at close range.

Ken and Nicolas split to avoid the attack. Realizing that the other Zakus they encountered had been in groups, Ken scanned the area with both his eyes and his RADAR. Just as Nicolas incapacitated the ambushing Zaku, Ken noticed another one in the distance.

"Nicolas!" Ken called, "He's a decoy!"

Nicolas noticed the Zaku just in time to block the incoming artillery shell with his shield. The shield shattered and the GM G was knocked off its feet, but Nicolas got off a shot with his machine gun. The bullets whizzed by the Zaku and forced it off of its perch on the roof of a short building. To the Zaku pilot's horror, Ken had already arrived with his beam saber drawn. The Zaku pilot tried to train the long barrel of his artillery rifle on the GM G, but Ken sliced the weapon in half. Before the Zaku could even reach for its heat hawk, Ken drove his beam saber through the Zaku's cockpit. Ken's GM G leapt out of the way just in time before the Zaku exploded in a huge fireball.

Marcan's voice broke in over the radio again. "Warning! Six mobile suits incoming!"

"We can't take on six mobile suits at once!" Nicolas cried.

"We're retreating," Ken said calmly. "But do it as slowly as possible. We need to keep these mobile suits away from the main force for as long as possible!"

Ken and Nicolas dashed from building to building, making a zigzag toward the coast. They took a few potshots at any Zeon tanks or aircraft they met along the way, and hit a few. They nearly got pinned down by the coast, but were able to escape into the Atlantic.

The mission was deemed a success once the two GM Gs were retrieved from the sea. However, when they got their orders for their next mission the next day, they received some unfortunate news. Federation HQ had underestimated the size of the force in New Yark. Though the GM Gs attracted most of the mobile suits' attention, there were a handful left to be dedicated to the main force. That, as it turns out, was more than enough to turn back the Federation.

Easy come, easy go.

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><p>When I first got this idea I felt really optimistic about how it was going to turn out. Then I wasn't so sure. Then I got into the idea again. Then I was worried I wouldn't get around to it at all. Then I started it and felt good about it again. Then as I kept procrastinating I got pessimistic again. I'd say that I'm optimistic again now that I've got two chapters done, but the truth is, I don't know what to think. Then again, it's not my place to say anyway…<p> 


	3. Engagement 3: Extended Operations

I may actually get this done on time! I'm stunned. So yeah. Second mission…

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><p>The 1st Mobile Suit Unit was this time flown by transport plane to the west coast. The team arrived at the Federation's Blackrock Base. There, they were happily united with four more GM Gs. With the GM Gs, however, came a new mission. The 1st MS Unit was to protect a convoy of Type-61 Tanks to reinforce the forces near the hotly contested city of Seattle. The mission would be long in duration and surely result in at least a few enemy encounters.<p>

Ken wanted to continue to only use two GM Gs and keep the rest in reserve, but both Major Marcan and the ranking officers at the base disagreed. For a mission like this, escorting a huge tank column across a long distance, more mobile suits were needed.

Most of the trip was quiet. Quiet as far as the enemy was concerned. Holdarin wouldn't shut up about how he couldn't wait for the Zeon to show up and how he was going to crush them. At least he knew enough to shut up when orders were being given out. Or when any important information was brought up on the radio, like Zeon troop movements. The Zeon didn't seem to pay the Federation tank force any mind. That made Ken and a few of the others worried.

Along the way the Federation forces had to pass by the Great Canyon. This was the riskiest part of the mission, as the tanks could only continue single file between a range of small cliffs to the west impassable to the Type-61s and the sheer drop of the Great Canyon to the east. The heat and the rocky terrain slowed the already lumbering tanks to a crawl. Everyone knew this was the perfect place for an ambush. About a quarter of the tanks got through when the attack started.

Dopp fighter-bombers attacked the thin, long column of tanks, but were easy prey to the GM G's machine guns. The first wave was easily repulsed, but the Zeons weren't through yet. Mobile suits started appearing from every direction on RADAR. Ken arranged the other five GM Gs in a formation around the Type-61s to protect them from any enemy mobile suits that attacked from the hills or the canyon.

"What about you?" Nicolas asked as Ken started toward the hills.

"I'll intercept as many mobile suits as I can," Ken answered, "I'll try to reduce what you have to deal with, but you'll probably still get most of it."

Ken weaved through the cliffs toward the incoming enemies, Major Marcan directing him from an AWACS aircraft above the battle. He ambushed a Zaku II and peppered it with his machine gun. He started to move toward another enemy, but then _he_ was jumped by three Zakus! He did his best to avoid their fire, but quickly he was pinned down by some crevices he had taken cover in. One of the Zakus drew closer with its heat hawk at the ready. As it got closer it exploded in machine gun fire. Ken took advantage of the Zaku pilots' surprise and fired on them, damaging one and forcing the other to retreat.

"I told you to stay with the column!" Ken snapped.

"I know, sir!" Nicolas' voice called, "But I couldn't let you fight so many enemies alone!"

Ken cursed under his breath. "Fine. We'll take the west. The rest of you prevent the enemy from attacking from the other side of the canyon. Look out for Magella artillery cannons from long range."

A "Roger," came in unison. The fighting lasted a few hours. Even after the last tank filed through the pass, Zeon Zakus attacked the six GM Gs left there. Both sides were pushed to their limits, but the Federation pilots proved more skilled and outmaneuvered their enemy. Once the tanks were through, the GM Gs were more free to move. Ken ordered everyone to stay in pairs. The Zakus seemed only semi-organized, sometimes attacking in groups, sometimes fighting alone. The GM Gs started to run out of ammo as the battle went on. Ken and Nicolas discarded their guns and switched to their beam sabers. The GM Gs were clearly a surprise to the Zeons. Right when the GM Gs were on their last few clips, the Zakus started to turn back. The 1st MS Unit survived their first full-scale battle.

Three Zaku IIs were destroyed over the course of the battle, one was captured, and at least three more were confirmed to have taken serious damage. All of the GM Gs took at least peripheral damage of some kind. The left arm of Ken's mobile suit had to be replaced and not a single shield survived the battle.

The 1st MS Unit, nerves frayed from the intense battle, caught up with the tank column a few miles away from Great Canyon. All the tanks managed to get through basically unharmed. There was still a long way to Seattle, and most expected another Zeon attack. Everyone focused as more Zeon patrols passed the tank column like before. It kept everyone on edge the whole rest of the trip.

Somewhere along the trip, Tommy spoke up. "Ashley? You okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, deadpan.

"But…" Nicolas spoke up, "You've barely said a word all day." Ashley seemed on edge since the team moved out. Everyone noticed a change in her usually chipper mood. Even Holdarin noticed the change.

"Now's not the time for goofing around," she stated flatly.

"Leave her alone," Pat said calmly (he seemed to be the only one who wasn't on pins and needles, "You did good work today, Hanss. We all did. Right Capitan Etto?"

Ken let out a long-held sigh as the outskirts of Seattle came into view. "Yeah."

Holdarin let out a hearty laugh. "Ya' know, I thought I was gonna hate you guys, but you're not so bad!"

An invisible weight lifted of the pilots' shoulders. The tanks and mobile suits met up with the Federation forces south of the city. A small outpost was set up and the forced there swelled. The mechanics had been flown in hours before and got to work on the GM Gs right away. Once Ashley descended from her mobile suit, she went right back to her usual bubbly self. It was like a switch. Everyone saw it best to ignore it.

It was the intent of Federation command that the GM Gs take part in the upcoming battle, but the pilots and head mechanic, Todd Zikerman, were gathered in one of the command tents when the AWACS landed. Marcan rushed into the tent with a worried look. That caught everyone's attention.

"We have a problem!" she said, gasping for breath, "We need the GM Gs ready for battle and on a transport in twenty minutes."

"That's impossible," Zikerman said, "It'll take at least an hour to get them fully repaired."

"You have half an hour," Marcan said grimly, "The Zeons aren't done with us yet."

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><p>It's amazing how fast a head start can evaporate when you procrastinate…<p>

I'm guessing Seattle was featured in 08th MS Team, but sadly, I haven't seen it in years. 08th MS Team fans will probably hate me for this, but I probably won't even reference that series. Sorry, but I don't remember anything from it and have no easy (legal) way of accessing it.

This is the perfect example of a case where I absolutely cannot afford mindless reviews. This is the first time I've structured a chapter like this, jumping right into the action with minimal dialogue. I don't know if this is a good thing that I should try more often, something that could work with more tweaking, or an abomination that I should avoid like the plague. I have a thick skin! Critique me! If you want a more detailed rant on the topic, read the author's note at the beginning of Duel 26 in the story _I am Darkness_. (Shameless plug or honest request? _You_ decide!) Just do me a favor and give me reviews longer than four words.


	4. Engagement 4: Ambush

Getting back around to Alternate Gundam is nice. I like this story and can't wait to see where it goes. Honestly, I've been playing through the next battle in my head since even before I finished Engagement 3. It'll be good to finally get it down on… uh. Not paper. On screen, I guess? Whatever; Engagement 4.

* * *

><p>The 1st MS Unit was loaded into yet another transport plane and headed west. They weren't given any time to rest after their long mission. The pilots slept on the short plane ride out over the Pacific Ocean. They weren't told much other than that the Zeons were launching a long range, preemptive strike on the Federation forces outside Seattle. There was an uneasy feeling in the air, and the pilots didn't get much rest. Once the transport landed, the Unit was loaded onto a large transport ship. The travel was beginning to ware down on the pilots as they were <strong>still<strong> not told what their next mission was. The trip took only a day, but it felt like weeks.

"Just tell us what our next mission is!" Pat snapped at Major Marcan when they finally arrived at a small tropical island. The Major had seemed to be avoiding the pilots to avoid questions about this emergency mission they were supposed to be on. Whether or not that was true wasn't really important; the tension in the air was dangerously thick.

"We've been tracking a Zeon rapid deployment unit since we turned back their attack in the Great Canyon," Marcan said, trying to diffuse the anxiety in the room by just explaining the situation. "A Zeon Gaw Attack Carrier is headed to our forces outside Seattle. We know it's carrying at least three Zaku mobile suits, and is being escorted by a squadron of Dopp fighters." The Gaw was an impressive machine. It was large enough to carry an as of yet undetermined number of mobile, and could carry a large load of bombs to provide close air support. The Federation was having real trouble dealing with the Gaws. Just one more amazing weapon that the Zeons used to hold the massive Earth Federation at bay.

"But how can we stop something like a Gaw?" Ashley asked.

"The GM Gs should be powerful enough to destroy, or at least delay, the Gaw," Marcan told the room. "We have to prevent that strike force from threatening our western North American forces. This isn't just about Seattle. High Command fears that if the Zeon controlled California Base gets any more powerful, it may be used for a staging point for a push to take full control of North America. Or even as a staging point for an attack on Jaburo."

"But the repairs _still_ aren't done!" the head mechanic said in his deep, powerful voice.

"It'll have to do," Marcan dismissed.

"The GM Gs may be able to damage the Gaw," Ken spoke up, "but if we get attacked by any escorting mobile suits, it may not be possible to stop it."

"Look at that! Giving up before the fight's even started!" Holdarin spat.

"We don't know how the GM Gs will hold up against a Gaw," Tommy said, "But this could be a good time to test it."

"Why was this island chosen?" Ken asked, "Is there any kind of air defense system."

"None," reported Marcan. "This island was chosen because it's the only place we can deploy the GM Gs that crossed the Gaw's path before the mainland."

Ken sighed, tossing his head back. "And there'd be no margin for error there. One mistake and the Gaw'd break through."

"This situation is not ideal," Marcan admitted, "but it's the best we can do."

"We have to try," Nicolas said. Everyone tentatively agreed.

There was some discussion on who should fight on the island and who shouldn't. Six GM Gs couldn't fight on that island without getting in their own way. Ken wanted two to ambush the Gaw, one for backup, and the remaining three to return to the mainland should the main team fail. Some felt wasn't enough battle strength, so it was decided to have three mobile suits on the island, one for backup, and the remaining two would head back. Because Holdarin made such as big stink about not wanting to come all this way just to backtrack, he was elected as one of the ambushers. Ken and Pat joined him with Ashley as their backup.

As soon as the mission started, there was total radio silence. Even loudmouthed Holdarin knew to shut up, lest he alert the incoming Zeon strike package. At first it was just a few Dopps in loose formation. They didn't notice the Federation mobile suits hidden in the dense trees. Than something not anticipated burst up from the ocean. A Zaku I leaped onto the beach, scanning the nearby jungle for threats with its single red eye. The Zaku didn't notice the well concealed GM Gs, but it was getting too close for comfort. When the Zaku was only a few dozen yards away, Holdarin opened fire, blasting the Zaku's head to scrap.

"What did you do that for?" Pat barked.

"We were about to be found out!" Holdarin shot back.

"The Dopps'll see it! You can't just blast every problem in your way!" Pat remained unrelenting.

"I took out its transmitters," the bombastic pilot just as stubborn, "Standard procedure! What more do you want?"

"Shut it!" Ken ordered, "Both of you!" Just when the argument halted, Dopps streaked overhead.

Two more Zakus, a Zaku I and a Zaku II, burst from the ocean. Before the Zaku I could react, Pat's GM G grabbed it by the face and dragged it into the trees. From the silence, Ken and Holdarin guessed the Zeon pilot met his end from a beam saber to the cockpit.

Before another thought could creep into Ken's head, he noticed the Zaku II began to train his gun on him. "He made me!" Ken sidestepped even before the Zaku fired, and shot it down. It went up in a huge explosion. Just then a shadow started to creep across the island. The pilots looked to the sky to see the Gaw blotting out the sun.

The GM Gs turned their guns on the huge attack carrier. The rounds impacted the hull of the aircraft, but there was no appreciable damage. To make matters worse, two more Zaku IIs erupted from the water. "Etto! Take out that carrier! We'll hold off the Zakus!" Holdarin declared as he and Pat moved to attack.

Ken instantly formed a plan. He ran up a hill near the center of the island and leapt with all his GM G had. The Gaw's trainable twin cannons behind its cockpit fired on Ken. The shells blasted his carbine to pieces, but he was able to grab on to the Gaw's strong wing. He snatched his beam saber and tossed it the short distance to the Gaw's bridge. It only clipped the target, but it annihilated the enemies' controls. (And the enemy pilots.) The Gaw lurched as it started to descend, causing the GM G's left arm to spark. It must be damaged from the other day, Ken realized in a panic. The GM G lost its grip and slammed into the sea.

The GM G was fished out of the water after the mostly intact Gaw was captured with most of its content undamaged. Luckily the GM G was watertight. Ken's mobile suit was brought onboard an eastbound transport along with the rest of the 1st MS Unit. Ken was dragged out of his cockpit, unconscious and with a dislocated shoulder, but alive. He came to in the ship's infirmary to find the mission was more than a success.

He was supposed to stay in bed, but when Ashley went to check on him that night, he was missing. She found him in the hanger, with the mobile suit he had been piloting that day. The one he'd been piloting since training. "What are you doing?" she asked up at him. Ken was doing something to his GM G's shoulder armor.

Ken lowered himself to the gangplank. "Going to bed," he moaned sleepily, just brushing past her.

She huffed at his behavior. Sometimes Ken could really get on her nerves. But when she looked at the GM G's shoulder, she couldn't help but smile. On it was a freshly painted crest of a blue owl.

* * *

><p>This was fun to write and I think it turned out to be one of my better chapters. Of course, between my procrastination and my crazy schedule lately, it's going up Friday night (again!), but I've got time to spare.<p> 


	5. Engagement 5: Guardians

I feel like it's been a long time since I've worked on Alternate Gundam. Soon the battles with the Zeon will heat up as the Federation's "V Project" is unveiled. And soon a young man will have a fateful encounter with a mobile suit…

* * *

><p>The capture of the nearly intact Gaw was a stroke of good luck. But like every stroke of good luck, it was met with a setback. The "V Project" responsible for creating the GM Gs was discovered by the Zeons in the space colony Side 7. What was worse, Char Aznabul, the "Red Comet" was reportedly in the area. The 1st MS Unit was rushed to the mass driver in Japan to get into space. The Federation had never launched a shuttle carrying mobile suits into space. While the launch went off without a hitch, no one knew how well the GM Gs would fair in outer space. Any fighting would unfortunately be in the colony, with its artificial atmosphere and gravity, but the GM Gs were never meant to be used like that.<p>

More bad news on the way from orbit to Side 7; V Project had already been attacked by the Zeon scouts. One of the prototype Guntank mobiles suits was destroyed. Fortunately, due to the colony's fragile nature, the battle never turned into a full-scale siege.

The 1st MS Unit managed to arrive when there were no Zeons to be found. There was no guarantee that the Zeon would attack again, but Federation HQ still wanted the V Project protected. The 1st MS Unit had already proved successful. The Federation needed more mobile suits, and the V Project was the way to get that done.

Once the 1st unloaded their mobile suits and settled in to their new station, they set up regular patrols. Every time the remaining Guntank or Guncannon (the other prototype being tested) went out in the testing ground, at least one GM G was with it. The number of live fire tests also increased. For the first time since the 1st MS Unit's mission in New Yark, they had a chance to rest. And the mechanics had a chance to repair the battle damage the suits had incurred in the fierce fighting they had been participating in. Though Ken wasn't allowed to participate in the patrol duties with his wounds still healing. He spent his time sulking in the hanger or his quarters.

Six blissfully quiet days passed without incident. One could almost forget mankind was at war with itself. For warriors who had almost forgotten what peace felt like, it was a welcome change of pace.

"…I'm just saying," Holdarin continued to complain, "We're the only organized mobile suit team the Federation's got. What are we doing in a neutral colony when those dirty Zeons are trampling all over our beautiful Earth?"

"We're protecting the Federation's means of getting _more_ organized mobile suit teams," Tommy, who was on the most recent patrol, emphasized. "And by the way, I was born in outer space."

"Oh," the bombastic pilot sighed, "Well, you know what I mean. And still, we shouldn't be stuck with glorified babysitting missions."

"Well, when you get promoted to general in the Federation Forces, you can give yourself a better job," Tommy suggested.

Holdarin laughed. "Oh, please. Could you see me in a position like that?"

Tommy gave a little chuckle despite himself. "Yeah, it'd be pretty strange to call you 'sir'."

"I'd be strange to hear it…" he admitted. "Not that I ever would. I wouldn't take that job even if they offered."

"I hear that," Tommy agreed.

The Guntank fired off another shot from its twin cannons. The Guntank had a human-like torso with caterpillar treads instead of legs. Its hands had been replaced with three machine cannon barrels and it bore two giant battleship cannons on its back. The shells flew easily to their target a few miles away and sliced right through it like cardboard. The target was a four inch steel plate. Holdarin whistled at the sight, watching the test from the control room. "Damn! I'd love to pilot a mobile suit like that!" he grinned.

"Are you kidding?" Tommy asked, "With that mobility? You'd be a sitting-"

"Warning! Warning! Enemy mobile suits detected! Guntank, fall back to the docking lift!"

"Where's the enemy?" Tommy gasped, just now noticing the increase in Minovsky Particle density. "Where are they, control?"

"Three Zakus approaching from above! They were hiding in the gravity neutral zone to avoid detection!"

"You don't scan the gravity neutral zone?" Holdarin demanded, "Not even visually?"

"Forget about it!" Tommy snapped, "Just give me the enemy's position!"

"Got it," Holdarin said instantly, shoving the panicking RADAR operator out of his chair and sitting in his place. "Seat taken?"

Just then a Zaku I and II dropped down, seemingly from the sky. Tommy's GM G was obscured by some empty buildings in the testing grounds, so the Zakus trained their guns on the exposed Guntank. They opened fire at long range, but luckily for the Guntank pilots, their mobile suit's armor was incredibly thick and strong. The lumbering Guntank shrugged off the insult.

The Guntank returned with its own machine guns. Luckily, it was out on a live fire test and wasn't loaded with harmless sim rounds. However, that was the end of the Guntank's luck as its aim was off. Even real bullets do nothing when they miss. From his hiding place, Tommy fired at the unsuspecting Zakus. Though he was closer, he was still pushing the limits of his carbine. The Zaku I, being slightly closer and having less armor, collapsed and exploded. The Zaku II, however, was none the worse for wear. The surviving Zaku returned fire, forcing Tommy to take cover behind a building. The Zaku attempted to pin Tommy down, but disappeared into an enormous explosion. The Guntank's main cannons _were_ sighted in!

"Two suits left," Holdarin announced, "Watch it Tommy, one's coming down right on top of you!"

Like clockwork, a Zaku II landed directly behind Tommy's GM G. It attacked with its heat hawk, trying to cleave the GM G in half, but Tommy ducked. The heat hawk buried itself into the derelict structure, giving Tommy more than enough time to remove the Zaku's arm from its torso, and its upper body from its legs with his beam saber. He kicked the wreckage away before it exploded and took him with it.

"Stop playing around!" Holdarin demanded, "The Guntank is under attack!"

The Guntank was under attack, all right. The last of the Zakus, a Zaku II, was pummeling it with his heat hawk. Not even the Guntank and all its armor could handle much of that! Tommy instinctively reacted, tossing the beam saber at the Zaku's head. The Zaku didn't see the attack in time. It turned only to have its main camera get skewered. The Guncannon blasted it point blank with its cannons sending it flying through the air where it exploded.

"Area sanitized. Good work people."

"Still… Still think this is a bad assignment?" Tommy gasped. He was still a little out of breath from his near-death experience.

"Hell, yeah!" Holdarin complained, "You're the one who got to have all the fun!"

Tommy rolled his eye in disbelief. "Fun he sais. Christ!"

* * *

><p>I was going to match this battle to the gameplay experience I have <em>every time <em>I play this mission, but I think this was more exciting. I started playing the battle in my head and just started going to town. Ahh, I approve.


	6. Engagement 6: Unconventional Procedures

I'm finally working ahead! Yay! I really enjoy working on this one. It's up there with _I am Darkness_ and _Fire_. Pretty soon the story may start jumping around from space to earth to space and back to earth again. The game didn't seem to care much about geography. Hopefully I can make it all believable.

* * *

><p>"What do you mean I'm ineligible?!" Ken demanded. His shoulder was almost fully healed and he was expecting to be able to start piloting his mobile suit again. But the doctor wanted him to wait a few more days. Even worse, the 1st MS Unit was asked to help test the new "V Project" mobile suits. And apparently Ken would be left out.<p>

"Rotate your arm," Marcan ordered. Ken flinched. He was still sore from when his GM G slammed into the ocean. "I thought so."

"Don't worry about it," Holdarin told Ken, slapping his sore shoulder, "It's not like we'll be doing any fighting. Just tests."

"Just focus on healing for now," Ashley offered.

"I have," Ken snarled to himself as he stormed out.

Ashley took a step after him, but Nicolas stopped her. "Just leave him alone for now," he told her quietly.

"As for the rest of you," Marcan continued, not missing a beat, "Nicolas and Holdarin will be operating the Guntank."

Ashley leaned toward Nicolas as Holdarin celebrated getting to use the Guntank. "Good luck," she whispered apologetically. He smiled back, knowing exactly what she meant.

"Stevens, you'll be operating the Guncannon. The Guntank goes first. Let's get going people."

The group left the room and headed for the hanger. The Guntank was launched, Nicolas in the cockpit in the chest, Holdarin in the gunner's seat in the head. Nicolas's job was to move the mobile suit, and Holdarin was to operate the weapons. First was the Guntank's live fire test. The pair did well, despite their seeming incompatibility. The two could easily coordinate the movements with the firing of the weapons. They even managed to sight in the machine cannons on the Guntank's hands. It was during the practical testing that the problems started.

After the live fire tests were completed, the ammunition was swapped for the sims used in training and the Guntank was pitted against captured Zakus. Nicolas and Holdarin could coordinate just fine when they weren't being shot at, but in a real combat situation, they didn't fair nearly as well. It was simply difficult for two people to control one mobile suit. They only managed to pass because the Guntank was allowed to take a few hits due to its tough armor. Obviously there was work to be done to make the Guntank single seat…

Pat and the Guncannon were next on the roster. The Guncannon looked starkly different from the Guntank. It was humanoid like the GM G, but bright red and stockier. The Guncannon carried two weapons; two short shoulder-mounted 240mm cannons, and a "beam rifle". The beam rifle was a fair sized carbine that fired a solid beam of Mega-Particle energy at a target that could cut through solid steel like paper. It was the same technology that went into the GM G's beam saber, but with an effective range of almost 3 kilometers! Pat insisted on testing out the maneuverability of the Guncannon during the live fire tests. He jumped and dashed around as he fired at the simple targets. The crew in the control room thought he looked foolish dodging nothing.

There wasn't much expected from the practical test. The Guncannon was single seat and more maneuverable than the Guntank, but it had many of the same problems. Slow and unresponsive, difficulty moving the mobile suit and operate the weaponry at the same time, incomplete cockpit and control systems. Simply put, there was a reason the Guncannon was still in the testing phase. Fortunately, the Guncannon also had strong armor, so the testing was wetted to that. Pat could take up to four hits before the test would be considered a failure.

The test started with a Zaku II at long range. It was easy prey for the Guncannon's 240mm cannons. Even at their maximum range and loaded with sims the impact warped the target Zaku's armor and knocked it on its back. Another Zaku charged from the opposite direction, also at long range. It was easy to give it the same treatment. Now the real test began. Two Zaku IIs dropped down from the gravity neutral zone. The Guncannon was among some derelict buildings Pat chose because they made good cover. The Zakus tried to surround Pat, but they didn't coordinate well. One popped out a little sooner than the other. Pat's beam rifle shut it down before it even got off a shot. The other did fire, but missed. The Guncannon had leaped onto a nearby building and shot down the attacker from there.

"So that's why he was jumping around before," Tommy noted. He was sitting in the cockpit of his GM G, ready to repel any sudden Zeon attack. "He was getting used to how the Guncannon moves." He looked over at the GM G next to him that held Ashley. Not that you could tell. Not a peep had been heard from her GM G once it got into position. "He's a true professional, wouldn't you say?" Nothing. "Ever the conversationalist," Tommy sighed.

The fight continued. Any Zaku at range was blasted with the 240mm cannon. A few got close by dropping down from the gravity neutral zone, but the beam rifle was more than enough to deal with them. All but one of the Zakus were felled. The last appeared at the very edge of the battlefield. Pat lined up his cannons for another easy kill. He fired, but the Zaku II sidestepped. Almost happy that one of them figured it out, Pat took sharp aim. He got off three more shots, all misses, before the Zaku took cover on the other side of one of the buildings he was hiding behind. The Zaku darted around the building and knocked the beam rifle out of the Guncannon's hands. Pat tried to kick the Zaku, but it boosted behind another building. The Zaku darted quickly around the building and slammed its heat hawk into the Guncannon's back. It took cover a third time and tried to do it again, but Pat had anticipated that.

The Guncannon was too slow to keep up with the Zaku in close range, so Pat guessed where he would be two moves ahead. When the Zaku popped its head out the third time, it was met with a point blank shot from the 240mm cannons, knocking it briskly to the ground. Jaws dropped when the pilot of the Zaku let out a pained gasp. Everyone recognized Ken's voice.

He popped the paint-splattered hatch and poked his head out. "Guess I do need more rest…" he groaned, rubbing his sore shoulder.

* * *

><p>Started ahead, done ahead! Wohoo! The twist ending was a little bit of a twist for me too. I didn't come up with that until a paragraph before that whole incident started. Ironically, that kind of fits my gameplay experience somewhat. The last Zaku in that Guncannon test mission is always the hardest. And incidentally, I tend to take him out with the cannon more times than not.<p>

I really like how this turned out. Ken gets to look like a total badass and we get a little more character development for Pat. A lot of big paragraphs in this chapter. I know I'm being a broken record here, but does this work? What are this chapter's shortcomings? How can I fix these issues? Am I overplaying Ken's shoulder injury? Don't be nice! Give me something to work with please!


	7. Engagement 7: Meeting

I love writing this story. I think I prefer it over _I am Darkness_, but that may only be because of how bloody hard that one is to write. Whether or not this'll get hard has yet to be seen, but at least it's all kinds of fun. And apparently, we're getting back to some actual combat. I'm trying to be as faithful to the game as possible and it has no sense of geography. I think I'm making it work, but no one's piped up about it…

* * *

><p>Another week (of disciplinary actions in Ken's case) passed and the 1st MS Unit finally got new orders. Officially, it was deemed the V Project was by then safe from Zeon attack, but that assessment was wishful thinking at best. The truth of the matter was the handful of Zakus neutralized by the GM Gs was the breath of fresh air the Federation needed and their absence on the battlefield was already missed. It was time for the 1st MS Unit to return to earth.<p>

On the decent to earth, they learned that they were headed to the Italian Alps. Europe had been the sight of many wars over the course of human history. With the Zeons taking over mining operations in Eastern Europe to feed their war machine, it would seem that the continent would be war-torn once again.

The mission for the 1st was simple. Defend the Medea Supply Corps as their low-flying transports moved through a mountain pass. The job was simple, but by no means easy. The slow, low altitude transports were easy prey for marauding Zaku mobile suits. Even an air attack could potentially overwhelm the armed transports without help. The Federation needed to secure this supply line. There was a massive, top-secret operation planned in the near future. Then again, with the way the war was going the Federation needed to secure _every_ supply line. Human and material resources were running thin on both sides.

Once the 1st arrived on Earth, they got the full briefing on their mission. To prevent a total loss of supplies, the transport mission was to be carried out in waves. Eight transports, escorted by two mobile suits. Enemy fire was expected. Nicolas and Holdarin went with the first group. The Zeons apparently didn't know the transports were coming, but they did seem to notice. Ken and Ashley were expecting a fight. They got one.

"This is the Medea Supply Corps," a light, but professional female voice called the mobile suit pilots, "Requesting escort. It looks like they're on to us."

Ken paused for a moment, recognizing the voice. "… Ashley, head to the East of the pass. If you see the enemy let me know, we'll engage together!"

"Roger, sir," came her sharp reply.

The two rounded the mountain peak that made up half the pass. They spit up and headed for the boxy, yellow Medea transport planes. Immediately Ken spotted a Zaku leaping in the air toward one of the Medeas with its heat hawk. Ken's GM G vaulted off a rocky hill and intercepted the offender. His beam saber cleaved through the enemy mobile suit's midsection and it exploded in midair. The Medea barely avoided the explosion. The pilot called down to Ken as she flew overhead. "You sure cut that one close," the same woman from before said gratefully, "I owe you one, pilot." Ken felt that twinge of familiarity again. He was sure he knew the woman that voice belonged to. Ashley's level voice broke him out of his thoughts.

"Two Zakus, bull's-eye, 080 at five." It was a good thing Ken knew fighter pilot slang or that would have been gibberish. He rushed to Ashley's position to see the two Zakus had already covered the five miles and were engaging Ashley. One of the Zakus, a Zaku II had her pinned down behind another hill and the other, a Zaku I, was firing its machine gun at a second Medea. Since he already had his beam saber drawn, Ken decided to cut down the Zaku I. By the time the pilot noticed the incoming GM G, it was too late. Ken turned to assist Ashley, but he saw that she had already disabled the Zaku that had her pinned.

Very soon after, two more Zakus appeared on RADAR. Once again, a Zaku I attacked the transports and a Zaku II went after the mobile suits. And the Zaku II pilot put up quite a fight. Against two GM Gs, it got outflanked, but it stood up to Ken in their brief mid-range one-on-one admirably. The other Zaku didn't put up nearly as much of a fight. And again, not long after, two more Zakus appeared. Clearly, the Zeons had developed anti-mobile suit tactics. "Ashley," Ken called quickly, "stay with the Medeas. The Zaku Is are going after them. I'll take on the Zaku IIs."

"Roger, sir," she barked again.

With each of the Medeas, one or two pairs of Zakus would attack the Medeas. The attacks were quick and fierce. On more than one occasion it was only dumb luck that one of the transports weren't lost. And while the Zeons had a strategy for contending with mobile suit escorts, the pilots didn't seem to have any experience fighting against other mobile suits. Finally the attacks seemed to stop. The second from the last transport got through with no sign of any Zakus. Ken and Ashley kept a whether eye still. And with good reason.

As the two GM Gs jogged below the last of the transports, three Zakus appeared to block their path. It was Ashley's keen eyes that identified them. "Three Zaku IIs!"

"Medea, try to get around the fight," Ken ordered, "Ashley, we have to keep all three of them busy until the transport is safe!"

"Roger, sir."

The GM Gs rocketed forward, blasting machine gun bullets at the Zakus at long range. The Zakus avoided the attack, but their vision was obscured by the cloud of snow and rocks kicked up by the machine gun fire. One of the Zakus made the mistake of trying to venture forward and found itself crumbling under the fire of the now much closer GM Gs. With the engagement now two on two, the Zakus moved closer, drawing their heat hawks. Ashley responded by blasting her Zaku with her machine gun. Ken boosted forward with his beam saber. Saber met axe with a crash that staggered both mobile suits. Perhaps because all the Medeas had gotten away or perhaps because the pilot didn't like the odds of fighting two-on-one the hard way, the Zaku took to the air and tried to escape. With seemingly super-human reaction time, Ken jumped after the fleeing Zaku and cut it down as they were both rocketing through the sky. Their mission complete, the two GM Gs made their way wordlessly out of the combat zone. It wasn't until they arrived at base did Ashley compliment (gratuitously) Ken's impressive victories that day. The amazing battle either destroyed or disabled every Zaku in the area or scared the Zeons out of attacking again, because Pat and Tommy didn't see a single Zaku on their sortie.

With the supply route secure (for now), Marcan met with the ranking officer of the supply group. "My name is Lieutenant Matilda Ajan," the stunning redhead said, offering her hand.

Marcan accepted the handshake instantly, "And I'm Major Suzan Marcan."

"I'm here to provide your team with supplies and mobile suit repairs. I've heard you've been in some tough fighting. And I'd also like copies of all your combat records. General Revil seemed very interested in your exploits."

"Yes," Marcan nodded, "I've been expecting-" Marcan was cut off by the arrival of Ken, Nicolas, Tommy, and Ashley.

The instant Ken saw Lt. Matilda he did something his comrades had never seen him do; he smiled. "Matilda! It _is_ you." Ken jogged over to her and the shared a friendly embrace (something else the rest of the 1st found surprising).

"You… know each other?" Marcan asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"We're collage friends," Matilda explained. "It's been too long."

"It's good to see you," Ken agreed.

"Wait a minute," Matilda said, tapping her chin, "You were the one in that mobile suit that saved my transport plane, weren't you? You jumped into the air and cut that Zaku right out of the sky."

"Uh, that's right…"

"Then I guess I don't owe you after all," Matilda said teasingly.

"And why is that?" Tommy asked. He was finding the conversation more than a little interesting.

"Because after all the torturing I did for him, he still owes me," Matilda joked.

"You were keeping track?" Ken asked sincerely. Matilda, Tommy, and Ashley all broke out laughing. Even Nicolas and Marcan snickered despite themselves. Ken didn't seem to get the joke.

"At least some things haven't changed," Matilda said between laughing fits. "Is he _still _always this serious?"

"Every minute of the day," Ashley nodded.

One of the supply corps mechanics came up to Matilda and told her the repairs were complete. "Looks like we're done here," Matilda said, almost sadly. "It may not be enough, but understand General Revil is doing his best."

"Of course," Marcan nodded.

Matilda started away, but Ken spoke up again. "If I save your life again next time we meet, will we be even?"

Matilda didn't know what to say. Nobody knew what to say. Finally Matilda laughed again, even harder. "Ken Etto told a joke! I thought I'd die before I heard that!"

"Don't jinx it, ma'am," Nicolas smiled.

Matilda smiled and saluted them, which the pilots and Marcan returned. "Good luck," she told them and took her leave.

In good spirits and more battle ready than ever, the 1st MS Unit set out for their next destination: Belfast.

* * *

><p>This turned out to be excellent. (I think.) I intended to have a little more character details about Ken in that last scene with Matilda, but I think it works better and is more natural as is. I'd also like to think I've got Matilda's character down, but I have more than a little leeway with her. She's one of the most prominent side characters from the original show, but she actually doesn't appear much.<p> 


	8. Engagement 8: Battle at Belfast

Another last minute update? But of course. When I played _Mobile Suit Gundam: Deluxe Federation vs. Zeon_ for this story's… well story, I got into some epic mobile suit battles. I should have a lot to work with in this chapter and it should be rather exciting. At least that's the hope. No one's given my any opinions on the matter!

* * *

><p>Belfast was a large Federation base and generally considered the European response to Odessa. As such, the base often came under "spoiling attacks", minor attacks meant to keep the defenders on edge, even if they do no damage. But with the preparations for a massive top secret operation underway, the base swelled with tanks, jets, and warships of all kinds to say nothing of the massive infantry garrison. With the increase of forces came an increase of Zeon attacks. While before they could expect a small air raid and maybe a mobile suit if they were unlucky about once a week, now they were getting as many as two mobile suits a day. The attacks were going from minor annoyances to actually dangerous. If Belfast was to be ready to support the upcoming operation, they would have to deal with their mobile suit infestation problem.<p>

The 1st MS Unit arrived on the fourth day of attack and the effects were already clear. Two of the Federation Battleships were critically damaged and many of the structures (many of them civilian structures) were cratered from heavy gunfire. The spirits of the base were low until they saw the GM Gs arrive. The 1st had started to make a name for itself after all of their victories and their mere presence was enough to brighten everyone's faces.

Unfortunately, the 1st did not have an easy job. The Zeons didn't attack at any predictable times, so they'd have to patrol 24/7 if they wanted to stop any further damage to the base. Because so many mobile suits had been sighted, large patrols of three would leave the base, make their rounds into the foothills that the Zeons liked to attack from, then return to base so the other group could replace them. The day was long and tedious. Unfortunately, something finally happened. Ken, Tommy, and Nicolas were just leaving the city when they got unfriendly contacts on their RADARs. Soon after the Minovsky Particle density skyrocketed. Ken ordered they take cover before they came under attack. It was the right call as they were soon weathering a barrage of 175mm cannon shells. Nicolas counted at least three shooters pinning them down behind a derelict building. They had to come up with a plan fast, as their cover wouldn't last long.

Meanwhile, the other three GM Gs were being scrambled. No less than four Zaku IIs were charging the rear of the base through the city! Holdarin, Pat, and Ashley left the base, but had to let the enemy come close to them so as not to do further damage to the civilian structures in the city. The Zakus arrived at the mouth of the base and were met with the combine force of three GM G machine guns. Along with the material support they had received from Matilda, they had also gotten larger clips that could hold more rounds. One careless Zaku, not knowing this, lingered a little too long in returning fire and got hit. Ashley charged the offender with her beam saber and cut it down. Unfortunately, the resulting explosion staggered Ashley's GM G. The other three Zakus (that were smart enough to take cover before) tried to swarm her. Holdarin and Pat came to her defense. Holdarin launched his GM G forward, body checking one Zaku into a building. The Zaku got a few glancing blows with its machine gun, but they didn't cut through the armor. Before the Zaku could recover, Holdarin shield bashed the Zaku and finally finished it off with his beam saber. He was able to move away from the explosion just in time. Pat meanwhile had started shooting one of the other Zakus. It was disabled without exploding and collapsed. Out of time to attack the last one before it could hit Ashley, Pat threw his gun at the enemy mobile suit. It knocked the heat hawk out of the Zeon's hand, giving Ashley the time to lop off the Zaku's arm. This time there was enough time between the killing blow and the explosion for her to get out of the way. The surviving Zeon pilot surrendered and the base erupted with cheers. The 1st MS Unit lived up to its reputation and then some. But the battle wasn't over yet.

Ken and Nicolas dashed out from behind the crumbling mass of concrete that used to be an office building firing at the Zakus at long range. With the Zakus just barely out of the GM G's range, they had little to do to avoid the attack. But the kill hungry Zakus didn't notice Tommy's GM G slip out in a different direction. Tommy circled around a knoll and flanked the Zakus. He blasted one with his machine gun, but when the explosion quieted, he saw that there were four Zaku IIs remaining! The mobile suits leveled their long cannons at the lone GM G. Luckily, Tommy was quick enough to get back behind the knoll and avoid the barrage of cannon shells. Once again, the Zakus fixated on one target too long and let Ken and Nicolas get close. They peppered the Zakus with gunfire, destroying three. Just as they were about to finish off the last one (already in open retreat) a sixth Zaku, a Zaku I burst out from another knoll. Ken, seeming to act before the Zaku even fired, blocked the charging mobile suit's attack with his shield, pistol whipped the attacker, then turned and fired on the retreating Zaku. His bullets blew the leg off the Zaku II, stopping it and forcing the pilot's surrender. The Zeon pilots, his allies, and even Ken himself were shocked by his seemingly superhuman reflexes. But the battle didn't stop for even a moment.

Tommy and Nicolas fired on the Zaku I, but it had had enough and was already ducking behind a hill to escape. Some of the bullets struck though, possible knocking off an arm. Pat, Ashley, and Holdarin arrived to apprehend the other surviving Zeon pilot. Never before had the gathered federation forces seen such an amazing feat. One mobile suit damaged, two captured, and seven destroyed. The Federation was lucky to get seven enemy mobile suits in a week! When the pilots returned, they were greeted with a hero's welcome. After that failed attack, the Zeons aggression was blunted. Over the next two days, they returned to spoiling attacks, but with the sheer numbers in the base they were repulsed. Three days after the mobile suit battle, there was nary a Zeon Dopp in the sky. And even better yet, the 1st didn't have to lift a finger. That gave the unit time to mend the bruises their bodies and mobile suits had incurred. But by the second consecutive day of not getting attacked, Federation HQ decided it was time for the 1st MS Unit to move on.

"But the repairs to our mobile suits aren't done!" Ashley pointed out. She didn't even mention her black eye from when her head struck one of the viewing screens during the battle four days ago.

"I'm sorry," Marcan said sincerely, "But we don't have time to rest. We'll be stopping by Greenland to complete all the repairs we can before heading off to North America."

"Federation HQ can't keep dragging us all over the globe," Ken stated. Everyone agreed.

"You're absolutely right Captain Etto. That's why after we complete our mission in North America, we'll be heading back into space…" the whole group groaned, as if they were school children told they had to do extra homework. "We'll be heading back into space to oversee the completion of the V Project." The gloom of the pilots instantly lifted. With the V Project finished, the Federation could finally mass produce mobile suits. That would mean they wouldn't be the only mobile suit pilots fighting for Earth! With more optimism than the war had allowed in a long time, the 1st MS Unit set out for Nuuk, Greenland.

* * *

><p>I seriously contemplated having this be a full chapter without dialogue, but I figured that wouldn't let the character's personalities shine as much. It's sort of funny how this changed from my gameplay experience to the version that played in my imagination to the final product here. It's still what I was aiming for though. I don't know if this is the right direction for the story though. This is actually much closer to a novelization of the game than I thought possible and I hope the characters aren't being lost in the prose.<p> 


	9. Engagement 9: Total War

I'm planning on having more dialogue in this chapter than the last one. It's actually kind of hard to balance telling the story in an exciting way and still have the characters have deep personalities. That said though, I want to maintain a sort of "mission per chapter" pace. All too often I see fanfics that don't actually have their most basic elements. A Yu-Gi-Oh! fic that's all overdramatic shipping with no life or death games, an Avatar fic that's all slice-of-life comedy shipping with no magic kung-fu, a Pokémon fic that's all confusingly written shipping with no magical monster battles… I'm sensing a pattern… Point is, I want to portray the no-hope struggle of mobile suit combat in an eloquent way and still create something immersive. Kind of like a combination of _The Great Gatsby_ and a less profane _Catcher in the Rye_. If you couldn't tell, I've been watching a lot of Crash Course lately.

* * *

><p>At the beginning of the war there were many places that were left alone, even if they weren't what one would call "neutral". Places where soldiers could go for sanctuary from battle, and even get supplies. Many leaned toward one side or the other, but as time went on most were dragged into the quagmire. Only a few places in the entire Earth Sphere were left alone, like Side 6 and Nuuk, Greenland who supplied both sides equally.<p>

The 1st stopped over at Nuuk to resupply after they left Belfast. The base was well stocked, but despite that they couldn't spare what they had. The Federation had been pooling what they had for an upcoming operation and doing so was already stretching other important fronts thin. It seemed amazing that there was nothing to spare even when surrounded by relative excess.

Nuuk had no such problems. The capital city of Greenland rose to prominence late in the AD era with the discovery of natural resources that would later fuel the Minovsky-type technology so prominent in UC 0079. Though it was overtaken by larger cities in North America and Eurasia and the promise of a Nuuk Mass Driver went unfulfilled, Nuuk did gather enough wealth to buy their way out of the Earth Federation and subsequent war.

The trip for the 1st was largely uneventful. Marauding mobile suits aside, the northeast Atlantic was largely dominated by the Federation. Zeon forces that headed to Nuuk were generally in no condition to fight and were rare anyway. The short, relaxing flight was a welcome change of pace for the pilots who seemed to so often to be run ragged. Once arrived, the pilots were given some leave time while the mechanics worked on the mobile suits. No one was surprised when Pat stayed to work on his own mobile suit, but Holdarin's decision to do the same was unexpected.

The rest of the pilots spent their day doing ordinary things. Ashley saw a movie, Ken found an electronics store, Nuuk had an art museum for Nicolas, and a small sports complex for Tommy. Still, the war was nipping at the heels of the city. It was disconcerting to see so many Zeon uniforms walking around, even if they seemed just as domestic as the other Fedies. It was a city made of glass. And the Zeons were about to throw a stone.

"ETA; twenty minutes. Begin mobilization of all onboard Zaku units," a Zeon command and control officer ordered over an intercom. There was a scramble of activity inside the cramped Gaw cockpit as the attack carrier trudged along through the sky. "We're ready for battle Lieutenant, but are we sure this is a good idea?"

"We were given orders directly from Captain Garma. We don't have a choice in the matter," the Lieutenant and commander of the Gaw crew returned.

"This is just a vanity project…" another member of the crew mumbled far too loudly.

"So what if it is!" the Lieutenant boomed. "Captain Garma feels he has a lot to prove to Lady Kycilia. And it's our responsibility to see that he can do that. And don't forget that he joins us lowly soldiers on the front lines. Far more than our sovereign would like."

"But sir, there are Zeon soldiers in Nuuk. What about them?"

"They're mostly deserters fleeing from battles in Eastern Europe. They have no place in our Zeon race."

"The city is trying to raise us," a communications officer reported.

"Increase Minovsky Particle Density and deploy the mobile suits."

Every Federation and Zeon ear perked up when air raid sirens started blearing. Ashley was the first to see the incoming Gaw. When she turned to head for the hanger that held her mobile suit she saw a Zeon grunt. The young man had his gun drawn, but instead of the standard Weaver Stance that he should have been using, he was staring slack-jawed at the incoming Gaw.

"B-but we wouldn't…" the Zeon stuttered. "We wouldn't do that! They wouldn't do that!"

Any hope that the Gaw was just there for a peaceful stopover was shattered as it started when it started bombing the city. The Zeon just kept staring at the craft raining death from the sky as everyone else took cover. Ashley noticed the man still in the open, bombs landing only a block away and shrapnel flying everywhere. "Get down, dummy!" she called out to him as she tackled him to the ground. The explosions from the Gaw's generous supply of bombs started to inch away, so Ashley addressed the Zeon she was sheltering. "Are you okay, Mr. Zeon?" she still had to shout over the racket. She didn't get an answer. "Mr. Zeo-?" He was already gone, eyes still staring at the sky. He looked younger than Ashley. She was nineteen.

Now Ashley was frozen out in the open, unable to move. Without realizing it she found she was being pulled out of the street and into an alleyway. Mobile Suits had started moving through the streets, blasting the weak resistance Nuuk was putting up against the sudden attack. She looked over her shoulder to see that it was Ken dragging her out of harm's way. As the two mobile suits turned a corner onto another street, Ken went back out into the destruction to carry out the body of the Zeon soldier.

"Did you know him?" Ken asked between gasps. Ashley shook her head. "Are you going to be alright?"

She didn't respond at first. She picked herself up, her face draining to an emotionless scowl that made her look older. The tears she had been shedding stopped and Ken got a good look at the cut on her head that Ashley apparently didn't notice. "Yessir," she said with a practiced tone before running off. Ken closed the Zeon's eyes before following.

Meanwhile, Pat and Holdarin were holding off the invading Zakus, but they were pinned in their hanger two to one. The sudden addition of two more guns after Nicolas and Tommy's GM Gs were activated gave them the unexpected push they needed. One of the Zakus went down and the others fell back. Holdarin and Pat's GM Gs scarcely took a step out of the hanger when Ashley arrived and boarded her mobile suit.

"Ensign Hanss! Wait!" one of the mechanics called to her as she closed the hatch.

"Let her go," Ken said, "This is personal."

"But she's wounded! And her gun can't be deployed in its current condition!"

"We're both going!" Ken shot back as his hatch started to close, "That's an order!"

The crew barely had time to clear and move the walkway used to service the mobile suits before Ashley took her first step toward the hanger door. Outside, the 1st for once had the advantage of numbers and was chasing down the attacking Zaku IIs.

"How can you attack a neutral city like this?!" Nicolas asked more rhetorically than anything else. "They aren't even armed!"

"How can you say that from that so-called mobile suit of yours?" a Zeon voice shot back. "Nuuk has clearly leaned Federation since the war began!"

"There are Zeon soldiers in this city too! You're killing your own!"

"Anyone who hides here from you earthnoid trash doesn't have the right to call themselves a Zeon!" The Zaku that had been responding tried to round a corner and hit the GM Gs, but Pat was ready. The Zaku's machine gun was torn apart and it barely had enough time to draw its heat hawk to block Pat's beam saber.

"Save me your Zeon master race speeches," Pat warned, "It's fascist lunatics like you that drove me from space in the first place!"

Unfortunately for Pat, the Zaku pilot was skilled and was able to shove his GM G away. The Zaku than tossed the heat hawk at Pat, who barely got out of the way in time. Nicolas, Holdarin, and Tommy tried to blast the Zaku, but the other two joined in the fight. Before the unarmed Zaku could retreat, Ashley's GM G boosted through the hail of bullets and cleaved the Zaku in half. An explosion and cloud of smoke obscured the GM G from all sides. It reappeared beam saber first. She lanced threw another Zaku's cockpit, knocking it down and pinning it to the ground.

The final Zaku trained its gun on the GM G, but Ken shot the Zaku's arm off. The Zaku drew its heat hawk with the other hand and swung, but Ken ducked and cut off the Zaku's head and other arm in a single stroke. The Gaw began its retreat, weather because it was out of bombs or mobile suits. Ken moved instinctively. The buildings of Nuuk wildly varied in size. Ken used them as steppingstones to get up to the same altitude. He kicked off a skyscraper and landed on the Gaw's back. The turret there turned to fire, but Ken's shield was up even before the gun moved. The shot was absorbed by the shield and the gun was destroyed with a swift beam saber stroke. "It's been an honor serving with all of you," the Lieutenant said as Ken drove his beam saber through the Gaw's cockpit.

Ken jumped off the Gaw's back as it descended powerlessly. He stared out at the city in chaos. Whole sections of the city were left completely untouched by the surprise attack. Some (like the area that the Gaw crashed in) suffered only minor damage. Other places, however, were turned into a smoldering ruin. "What the hell is this war turning us into?" Ken wondered to himself as he looked out on the destruction.

Later that day, Greenland and all its natural resources joined the Earth Federation. For all the good it would do. The nation's capital was in ruins and would need years to recover. The 1st MS Unit also departed the same day. The war goes on.

* * *

><p>I think this is a lot more like Gundam. Well, insofar as Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed were done in different styles. Even CCA was done differently, but I digress. I like this. It feels like a very Tomino-y way of telling the story. That probably sounds arrogant, but it's how I feel. It's also nice not having much of a time crunch. I'd love some non-ass kissing reviews on this one. I think this could be a new way for me to grow if I see in this what works and what doesn't.<p> 


	10. Engagement 10: Owls

I find that if I'm smart enough to work ahead, it's often Alternate Gundam. I suppose it's because I have to play Federation vs. Zeon to write it, so I feel like I'm procrastinating instead of working (as if this qualifies as work…). I digress, I'll probably deviate from the game a bit for the sake of character. Honestly, I think that's best. It's the characters that have to carry the story, since most readers already know how the story goes. (Hehe, me having readers…)

* * *

><p>The 1st was rapidly approaching their goal, a mass driver in Alberta. Canada had become a rather chaotic place since the war began. North America was a prime target for the Zeon in the early stages of the conflict. Much of the Earth Federation's battle strength and financial resources came from that area. Canada, being more sparsely populated, saw less action but marauding mobile suits still roamed, looking to take advantage of the Federation's sorry state.<p>

As to the state of the Federation, the 1st had to be called off from its intended course for a last minute mission before returning to space and the completed V-Project. Because of the forces massing at Belfast, there were less and less units able to guard the Medea Transport Corps. Many had to go without any escort at all with disastrous results. As it happened, the 1st's path crossed closely with that of a small Medea group without an escort, so Federation HQ diverted them to be used as escort.

This transport mission was very important; not only was an important officer leading the mission, but new equipment was being moved to its final testing site. The lead officer greeted the 1st when they arrived.

"Hello, there," Matilda smiled, "It's good to see you again."

Ken smiled back, "Hi, Matilda."

"Lt. Matilda," Marcan spoke professionally, cutting short any pleasantries, "We've been assigned to escort you on the next mission."

"You have no idea what a relief it is to hear that," Matilda said honestly. "We're transporting mobile suit weapons that should hopefully be ready for deployment any time now. Actually, I was hoping you could help out on that front. You have a sniper as one of your mobile suit pilots, don't you?"

Tommy stepped forward, "I was a marine sniper, ma'am."

"We have a weapon we'd like you to use in this upcoming mission," Matilda continued, "It's a 180mm cannon especially designed for long range combat. The heads at Jaburo seem to think mobile suits are supposed to be long range fire support it seems. But this one has been designed especially for sniping."

"A mobile suit sniper?" Ashley asked, seemingly in awe, "I wonder if that would work…"

"Well, truth be told, I hope we don't find out today. This is a small transport mission, so we might be able to slip through unnoticed."

They would soon find out. The route they would take was to be along the ocean. It gave Holdarin, Ken, and Pat a claustrophobic being pushed up against the sea like that, but at least they could jump into the ocean if they needed to. It was hard to tell if there were any Zeon in the area with the high Minovsky Particle density. That might have been the sign of an imminent attack, or just a byproduct of the heavily trafficked area. Twenty more miles to go. A shot rang out in the distance. Thanks to their training, the three GM [G]s were able to see the attack coming with plenty of time to spare. Three more shots rang out. One more aimed at the mobile suits, one aimed at the Medea transports, and one that sounded different and coming from another direction. The one aimed at the mobile suits was easily evaded. The rounds fired by the Zaku's long range rifles seemed to be treated like long range artillery shells. Even the slow moving Medea could avoid the attack. The third shot was different, however. It was aimed carefully by a skilled marksman and met its mark, causing one of the attacking Zakus to explode.

"More Zakus incoming!" Matilda's voice came over the radio, "Even a small unit can't get through unnoticed."

More artillery shells flung toward the Medea, but the attacker was silenced after Tommy readjusted his aim. The other Zakus Matilda spotted moved in. Many had MS Bazookas that they launched at the Medea transports, but thanks to some top notch piloting, the transports were able to avoid damage. The mobile suit pilots took stock of the situation; four Zakus, three with bazookas, and one with a machine gun. The one with the gun attacked the GM [G]s. The attack was easily avoided for the skilled mobile suit pilots. Holdarin charged the gun wielding Zaku and cut it down with a swift beam saber stroke. Before it could get off another shot, another Zaku succumbed to Tommy's sniper fire. Nicolas, who was keeping watch over the prone GM [G], couldn't help but be impressed by his teammate's skills. In the meantime, Ken, Pat, and Holdarin had the other two Zakus surrounded. One of them attempted to fire, but was shot down by machine gun fire. Just as it seemed the battle was going smoothly, a Zaku I leapt out of the ocean behind the Medeas. Tommy couldn't train his rifle on the target without risk of hitting one of the transports. Fortunately, the situation was under control.

The door of the trailing Medea opened to reveal Ashley's GM [G]. She ignited her beam saber and shot out of the Medea. The beam saber was driven into the Zaku, disabling it in one hit. The surrounded pilot surrendered as the Medea left the area.

"Another amazing show," Matilda said, only half jokingly at the cargo's intended destination. "You should keep that 180mm rifle you used during the battle. I have a feeling it's in good hands."

"Thank you, ma'am," Tommy saluted.

"I suppose I should tell you that's just as much a gift from General Revil. He's been keeping a close eye on all of you. He has a great deal of faith in you. The Federation is stretched so thin that talented people like all of you will become invaluable in these tough times."

"It's good to have people like you cleaning up our messes too, Matilda," Ken said with a sincere smile.

"It's why I joined the supply corps," she returned just a brightly. "Oh, and on that note, we've given your mobile suits as many repairs as possible as well as some supplies and spare parts. From what I hear you've been through some pretty tough fighting lately."

"We have," Marcan agreed thankfully.

"Well, you should be battle ready for a little while longer now. It's not enough, but it's what we can spare."

"We understand." Marcan looked around and noticed that two of the pilots happened to be missing. "By the way, you don't know where Rolin and Hanss are, do you?"

"I saw them in the hanger earlier, ma'am," Tommy answered quickly.

The group moved to the mobile suit hangers. There was the buzz of activity that comes with working on large machines. Ashley and Nicolas were spotted on some scaffolding for one of the mobile suits. When she saw that the other pilots had arrived, she waved down.

"Hey! We added your crest to our mobile suits too! Hope you don't mind!"

Holdarin laughed, "You know, I was thinking that symbol looked good myself! I think I might add it to my mobile suit too."

"What do you think, Ken?" Tommy asked, "How about making it the official insignia of the 1st Mobile Suit Unit?"

Ken nodded happily. "Yeah. The Owls are back."

* * *

><p>So I think this one worked. It's not my favorite, but it's okay. It's really hard for me to balance the character and action, but I do my best. I suppose I could just make the chapters longer, but that would require me to work ahead. (Hopefully I will.)<p>

An important part of the story is coming up and I hope I can pull it off. That, of course, won't be out for a while. I like this story, so I hate to be a broken record, but tell me what I should do to improve it. It's really important to me.


	11. Engagement 11: The Mobile Suit Gundam

Alternate Gundam and shocker of all shockers, I'm actually starting this before Friday. I'm kind of hoping that I can get some more character stuff in this chapter. Because of the nature of this mission in the game I might manage it. We'll see. Still would like some feedback on this story though. Just sayin'. AGAIN!

* * *

><p>Back into space. Each member of the 1st had different ideas about space. To some it was a home they had left. To others it was enemy territory. To Ken, it was limitless. If mankind could make such a hostile and unforgiving place as outer space their home, they could do anything. So why is it that they were still fighting and killing each other?<p>

The Zeons were back poking around Side 7. They denied they had been there at all, but the Federation knew better. Hell, the 1st repelled a Zeon attack. But that wasn't what they were there for this time. It was about time for the V Project to be completed. The top secret project to develop mobile suits for the Federation was now preparing for its final test. Ken had been selected as the test pilot for the centerpiece of the V Project. It was called "Gundam".

"This mobile suit is the fully realized version of our original prototype," one of the technicians explained. "We took what we learned from the captured Zeon mobile suits and applied it to the most cutting edge technology available to the Federation. I think you'll find the Gundam superior to any mobile suit you've yet encountered."

It would have to be for the test course that was lined up for it. Eighteen mobile suits. Just about every captured Zeon mobile suit that the Federation had. This "Gundam" was a white humanoid mobile suit similar to the GM, though it seemed closer to a human shape. Especially in the legs. It carried three weapons; a pair of vulcan cannons in its head, two beam sabers in its backpack, and for this mission, Ken would be using a mobile suit bazooka. Perhaps its most unique piece of equipment was a large red riot shield.

Ken waited for the test to begin surrounded by the abandoned buildings in the Federation weapons test area. Without warning a Zaku signal appeared behind one of the buildings. Ken commanded the Gundam to jump. With the boost from its thrusters, the Gundam nearly leaped into the gravity neutral zone. "Holy- Can this thing _fly_?!"

Apparently the Zaku test pilot was just as shocked, because he just watched Gundam rise dumbly. Ken took advantage of the hesitation and locked on with his bazooka. The missile launched with amazing speed, arcing toward the Zaku to avoid the building in the way. The missile was so fast, by the time the Zaku pilot saw the attack, it was too late.

Gundam landed effortlessly on a tall building. Another Zaku approached, Ken's RADAR saw it coming from the edge of the battlefield. He turned and fired on it, the missile curving again to hit it at long range. The targeting system on this mobile suit was stunning! Before he could take any more note of that, two Zakus dropped down from the gravity neutral zone. The roof of the building was too cramped for the three of them, so Ken batted one of the Zakus, a Zaku I, off the roof with his shield. The other Zaku, a Zaku II, swung its heat hawk at Gundam, but the white mobile suit was far too fast. All in one motion, Gundam dropped the bazooka, spun out of the way of the heat hawk, drew his beam saber and cut the Zaku down. Out of good habit, Ken jumped off the building. Had this not been a training exercise, the Zaku he cut down would have surely exploded. Before the Zaku I could get up and attack Gundam, it was blasted down with the vulcans. Even with the little simmunitions, the Zaku armor was bowing. Outdated armor or not, this thing was breaking mobile suit armor with glorified paintballs!

Ken walked Gundam over to the discarded bazooka and picked it up. With the sometimes clumsy GM G, a task like that would be too delicate to do during combat. Gundam handled it like it was almost an extension of Ken's own body. Almost. Another pair of Zakus appeared on either side of the block. Ken fired on the first instinctively. The Zaku tried to dodge, but the missile tracked to its target. The second Zaku fired on the Gundam, but it dodged with stunning speed. Before the Zaku pilot could react, Ken had flanked him and blasted him off his feet with a close range bazooka blast.

Three Zakus arrived in an open area. Ken noticed them instantly. The GM G put the Zaku's RADAR to shame. Gundam put the GM G's RADAR to shame. Ken decided to try something. He used Gundam's ridiculous jump height to get a clear shot at the pack of Zakus. With a few quick motions of his fingers, he launched three missiles at the Zakus. Each impacted the target, the missile warning system on the Zakus being too slow.

Gundam was like a one mobile suit army. Four Zakus arrived in rapid succession. The first was ambushed and cut down with Gundam's beam saber. Between all the Minovsky Particles Gundam gave off and its unique Luna-Titanium armor, it was nigh impossible to see it on RADAR before it was on you. Another Zaku was blasted by a long range bazooka shot. Another went down to the bazooka fire. The fourth wandered close and was dispatched with the vulcans. They all appeared within a few seconds of each other, yet they never got a chance to team up on Gundam.

The last three Zakus came in together. Ken dispatched two of them easily, but the third one was able to blast the Gundam's missile out of the sky with its machine gun. Ken smiled. He knew exactly who the pilot was.

"Payback for last time?" Ken asked the Zaku pilot as they both took cover.

"Not really…" the low, steady voice replied. Everyone recognized Pat's voice. "Last time you were injured. I wanted to see what you can do at your best."

"I think you'll regret that decision." Pat sensed the attack coming. The Gundam had circled around and attacked the Zaku from behind. Pat boosted forward to dodge the beam saber stroke, turned and fired. Gundam blocked the attack with his shield. In one motion, Gundam let go of the shield and punched it. The metal shield flew forward and smashed into Pat's Zaku, throwing it off its feet. Gundam leaped over to the fallen Zaku, but it rolled out of the way and drew its heat hawk. Pat could only raise the weapon before Gundam's practice beam saber would have cut off the Zaku's arm and then the rest of the machine in half.

"Holy-!"

It was clear that it was a battle between two masters of mobile suit combat, but the difference between the Zaku II and the Gundam was… staggering.

"What do you think?" the scientist responsible for Gundam asked Ken after the test. "Is my Gundam not a masterwork?"

"It's a stunning mobile suit, Dr. Ray," Ken nodded.

"Excellent! Then I'm sure you'll have no objections to piloting it. We intend to you Gundam and the assault carrier White Base as the main weapons for the 1st MS Unit."

Ken looked up at the docked Gundam. "I don't know…"

"W-What's the matter?"

"I'm not sure. It just seems to me like it's meant for someone else…" Dr. Ray didn't seem convinced by a comment like that. Then again, neither did Ken. "I'll gladly use your mobile suit, Doctor. It's just that I'm not sure we're going to mesh perfectly."

"Well, it'd be a waist not to use it at all," the doctor said as he started away to continue his work. "Just make sure it gets plenty of Zeons and helps end this war."

Incident with Pat aside, the test of Gundam was a shocking success. Gundam couldn't win the war alone however. Before the 1st was introduced to the White Base that was to be there mobile command center, they were to head to the manmade satellite Luna II to test the space/earth operation GM.

And later that day, after they left, a young boy had a fateful encounter with a mobile suit…

* * *

><p>And there we go. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I like it. It's a pity I couldn't get it done ahead, but at least the sun is up for once. Please, I need to know if I'm doing a good job of telling the story. Critique me. I am not sensitive, be as brutally honest as you can be!<p> 


	12. Engagement 12: A Long Way, Already

Working ahead on Alternate Gundam again, surprise surprise. The story should start to move along at a faster pace after this. That having more to do with the characters and events of the One Year War. I suppose I should have mentioned this, but the PC in _Federation vs. Zeon_ fights alongside White Base several times. This story is technically its own cannon (which is part of the reason why I'm not losing as much sleep over completely ignoring _08__th__ MS Team_).

* * *

><p>"What do you mean it was stolen?!" a Federation officer shouted into a receiver. Ken looked over at the frantic man. The 1st had taken a shuttle to the base on the manmade satellite Luna II. It was a giant mass of rock dragged into high earth orbit all the way from the Asteroid Belt. Initially it was a resource satellite to be mined, but when the war broke out it was converted into the Federation's front line base. Today, it was being used as the testing sight for the new all-aspect GM mobile suit. It was meant to be the Federation answer to the Zeon Zaku that could fight on earth and in space. Thus far the Federation only had the GM Gs used by the 1st and they couldn't be used in space at all.<p>

Ken walked over to the distraught officer. "If it's still in Federation hands, just take it back! I don't care if there aren't any officers left, I'm standing next to its pilot right here!"

"What's the matter?" Ken asked the officer. The man jumped at Ken's voice.

"Ah… It's the Side 7 V Project facility. It was attacked by Zeon forces an hour ago."

"Is the colony alright?"

"Yes, sir, but your Gundam mobile suit was taken by a civilian. I'm having trouble with the White Base crew though, they won't give it back!"

"What stopped the Zeon attack? Did the civilian drive them off with Gundam?"

"Er, yes sir. It was Dr. Ray's son who commandeered it." Ken thought for a moment, than brushed past the officer to get to a terminal. He called up security camera footage of the Zeon attack on the V Project. "Um, sir?"

The attack was quick and uncoordinated. Four Zeon Mobile Suits, three Zaku IIs and a Zaku I. The Zaku I seemed to be in charge for some reason, but the other three just seemed to do as they pleased. The disassembled Guncannon and Guntank were hit first, blasted by the machine guns of the Zaku IIs. The real damage was done however when the Zaku I and its bazooka joined in. The Luna-titanium armor of the Guntank and Guncannon weren't much help when the detached pieces were scattered by the explosive shells.

When the Zakus turned on the Gundam, however, it rose up and fought back. Gundam drew its beam saber and fell the first Zaku in one stroke. For Gundam being able to destroy a Zaku II with one attack wasn't surprising, but that a civilian taking shelter in the mobile suit was able to command it so deftly was. The explosion was enough to knock Gundam off its feet at such close range. For as naturally talented as the pilot was, his inexperience was showing. At least he knew enough not to fire off wild shots with the beam rifle that could damage the colony. The second Zaku II was beaten down with Gundam's vulcans, it didn't explode. That was when the Zaku I attacked. It was all over the Gundam, trying to beat it down with its bazooka. If not for Gundam's powerful armor, it would have been a pile of shattered scrap. The Zaku I was different from the others. That pilot had instinct.

The last of the Zaku IIs, emboldened by an ally in an outdated mobile suit holding off this new monster, moved in for the kill. It was the last mistake of his life as the Gundam broke free and buried its beam saber right in the center of the Zaku II's cockpit. The perfect strike missed the reactor and prevented the Zaku from exploding. The Zaku I retreated with its allies gone.

"You said it was Dr. Ray's son that did this. What's his name?" Ken asked after he digested what had transpired.

"Amuro Ray, sir."

"I'll have to remember it," Ken said lightly. "He can keep the Gundam. It's clear from that performance that it makes a much better partner for him than for me."

"But sir, that's…"

"An order. Amuro already had a better combat record than most of the Federation combine. It would be wrong to take Gundam away from someone like that."

"I'll… have to let Jaburo know, sir."

"Of course. Hopefully they'll have the good sense to take advantage of those two."

The officer saluted and shuffled off to go file his report on Gundam's first unexpected battle. Ken returned to the main monitor. He took in the landscape of the test to come. Luna II, unsurprisingly, looked like the moon with its pitted and craggy surface. It looked a more terrestrial brown and seemed to have more topography, though. Though the latter was probably a result of Luna II's size.

"Should I delay the test, sir?" one of the technicians administering the combat test asked.

"No, don't keep them waiting."

The technician nodded and spoke into a microphone. "This will be a full combat test of the GM mobile suit and the Ball battle pod support platform. The enemies will be captured enemy Zakus and all weapons are loaded with sims. Your Beam Spray Guns will have the same effect on hit as the practice beam sabers you've used before. Good luck."

Ashley and Tommy were the lucky ones assigned to the GMs. The GM was a red and white, humanoid mobile suit with a visor-like main camera. It carried a single beam saber, a riot shield like that of Gundam, and a "Beam Spray Gun", a dumbed down pistol like version of the Gundam's beam rifle. In the GM's head section were two vulcans, also like Gundam, but a smaller caliber.

Nicolas, Holdarin, and Pat were given the much more underwhelming Ball. It was just a work pod with a cannon fitted on top. It only had that and its manipulators to use as weapons.

The battle begun as Zakus approached from a low valley in the distance. The Balls opened fire with their cannons first. They quickly pinned the Zakus with support fire and the GMs approached, careful not to stumble into the line of fire. One of the four Zakus fell to the attack even before the GMs arrived. When another popped out to counterattack, Ashley shot it down at close range.

The fight seemed to be going well until Nicolas picked up more contacts approaching from the hills behind. He boosted above the surface to get a good look and spotted them. Three more Zakus coming to ambush them. "Remember that we're in Zero G right now, Nicky!" Holdarin warned. Too late. Nicolas had already lined up his shot and fired. The recoil from the 135mm cannon sent the Ball tumbling backward through space. Nicolas caught himself and landed safely. "What did I just say!?"

"Right, sorry sir!"

The Zakus had evaded the attack, but they had been delayed them enough for Tommy to turn around and head back to engage them. Unfortunately he was waylaid by three more Zakus on the way. He had to discard his shield to escape their surprise attack before downing two with his vulcans and Beam Spray Gun. The third was felled with a close range Beam Spray Gun shot.

Ashley in the meantime had engaged the remaining Zakus from the first group in melee range and had downed another when a fifth Zaku attacked. She blocked the attack with her shield and cut the one she had been fighting down. She then boosted into the air and blasted the intruder with her vulcans.

The Balls had much more trouble with their three Zakus. The Zakus had closed in on the smaller machines and were taking advantage of their lack of defenses with a direct assault. All the 1st could do was evade the attacks. In the melee, Pat managed to cork off a shot and down one of the Zakus.

Momentarily distracted by the skill of the Ball pilots, one of the Zakus stopped moving. Holdarin burst forward, and threw it into a rock wall with his manipulators. He beat on the mobile suit until its pilot gave up. The last of the Zakus aimed at the aggressive support unit and opened fire. In a Ball, there was nothing to do but get hit. But Holdarin didn't give up that easily. He gave the thrusters a quick nudge, getting him off the surface just enough. He blasted a cannon shot into the rock wall and he went tumbling out of the way of the Zaku's gunfire. Nicolas finished off the Zaku when it stopped to fire off its machine gun burst.

"The 1st is really amazing," the technician mused as the immobilized Zaku were collected. "Those weapons are all as experimental as they come and yet they use them like they've trained on them for years!"

Ken nodded. "And let's hope I can do the same…"

* * *

><p>Glad I worked ahead. I swear, I lost a day somewhere. In any event, I like this one. As with most of Alternate Gundam I just like working on it in general, so it's not that surprising to see most of it turn out well above the passable line. Well, for me at least. I still don't have many opinions on this thing!<p> 


	13. Engagement 13: Live Fire

Not actually working ahead on this one. I'm a bit surprised, but I've had a busy week. Not much to say here, so I might as well be on with it. This chapter might not set the world on fire, but it should lead to the first major plot point of the story.

* * *

><p>The GM had finally passed all its preliminary tests with the completion of the 1st's combat simulation. It was time for the new mobile suit to see real action. The 1st boarded a specially modified Magellan. On board were eight GM mobile suits fully outfitted for combat. Among the pilots was Ken, preparing to launch in the lead GM. With the Gundam mobile suit approved by Jaburo to stay in the hands of Amuro Ray, Ken needed a new mobile suit capable of space combat.<p>

It wasn't lost on anyone that this very real battle would not only be a first for the GM, but also for Ken. This mission carried a nearly unacceptably high level of risk, but the Federation had been cutting more and more corners in their effort to deploy mobile suits of their own. "Trial by fire" was not only literal in this case, it was a necessity.

Aside from Ken, the GM pilots were all Federation regulars ready to be folded back into the regular chain of command. Ken replaced the original mission commander to minimal protest due to his record. The mission was to clear a Zeon guerilla force harassing the supply lines from Jaburo to the various Federation bases and loyal colonies in low earth orbit. The enemy unit was small, but was using the wreckage of the vessels they destroyed as cover. The large Magellan couldn't sail into the debris field or support the GMs inside it due to the visual obstructions and the high Minovsky Particle density given off by so many mobile suits. The GMs would be on their own inside the hornet's nest.

As soon as the Magellan approached the Minovsky Particle density dramatically increased. The Zakus had mobilized like clockwork whenever Federation ships approached the area. But unlike before, the Magellan stopped well before the debris field. Outside of the range of the weapons carried by the Zakus but in range of the Magellan's main cannons, the Zakus hesitated to attack and shrank back into the safety of the wreckage.

With the threat of retaliation delayed, the GMs took off from the deck of their mother ship and raced toward the debris field. The GMs arrived in the twisted mass of metal before the Zakus could drive them away with the advantage of cover.

The Zakus spread out in the field, making to surround the strange Federation mobile suits. The GMs formed four teams of two and spit off. The number of mobile suits the Zeons could spare for a mission like this was unclear, but there was no way they had enough to surround four separate groups of GMs. The Zakus responded by opening fire from behind cover. The shots were sloppy and meant to scatter the GMs. The GMs responded instead by returning fire. Mega particle beams passed machine gun bullets and bazooka shells, all burying in already twisted steel. Ken drove a Zaku I out of its cover with his vulcans and blasted it away with his beam spray gun.

Two more Zakus attacked, focusing the GM partnered with Ken. The pilot managed to turn in time to see the attack. A Zaku I with a bazooka fired first, but the machine gun rounds of the Zaku II traveled faster. The GM pilot fired off a blast from his beam spray gun before raising his shield. The beam lanced through the leg of the Zaku I, causing a chain reaction and the destruction of the enemy mobile suit. However, the counterattack prevented any kind of evasive maneuver. Bullets slammed into the left arm just as the shield absorbed the rest of the rounds. The arm sheared off soon after in a burst of fire. The shock stunned the pilot, leaving him unable to evade the bazooka shell.

Ken intervened, shooting down the shell after spending two shots. The Zaku II moved to finish off the stricken GM, but Ken moved between them and drove it off with a vulcan volley. He shot it down with another beam round as it turned to escape.

Ken moved to engage other hostiles, but a panicked voice came over the radio in his cockpit. "It's taken too much damage! It's going to explode!"

"Calm down, and think," Ken radioed back, "You've got enough time to get the reactor under control." He placed his shield on a rack on the GM's backpack and grabbed the other GM by its undamaged shoulder. "Cut the engines first," Ken ordered as he worked the damaged GM into a more defendable position. "Alright, just cut power to the left arm. Reroute the power to the radar and main camera. Can you do it?"

A tense second passed before the pilot's much more even voice responded, "I got it! Thank you, sir. Sorry I panicked."

"You're alive. That's what counts," Ken returned. "You did your part, so stick to cover and get out of here. Get to the Magellan and don't make yourself a target, understood?"

"Yessir!"

The wounded GM moved toward the edge of the debris field and Ken turned to engage more enemies. Before he could find a target, though, he heard an alert that cut him like a knife. "Signal lost! Repeat, signal lost!" Ken did a swift count of his allies and found one that was suddenly alone. He rushed toward it, but it was hard for him to keep up. After piloting one of the captured Zakus, Ken had a rough idea of how it preformed and the GM's thrusters didn't quite match up. It didn't help that the debris field called for reaction time just a bit greater than the GM could handle. Finally, Ken got in range of the battle.

"Back off, Zeon bastards!" the lone Federation pilot growled as she spent the last of her beam spray gun ammo. The attack damaged one of the perusing Zakus enough to make it retreat, but the other two continued the chase. The fleeing Zaku stumbled across Ken's path, it vanished into an explosion of flame and scrap metal after a single beam shot.

Ken turned to peruse the Zeon pursuers. He fired a few more careful shots, but they were absorbed by the debris. It was enough for one of the Zakus to break off, but the other continued its pursuit. Ken fired again at the aggressive Zaku pilot, but the shots were blocked by stray metal again. On top of that, he was running short on ammo for the weapon as well and no way to store it on the GM to switch to his beam saber. "Pilot!" Ken called to the other GM which had already switched to its beam saber, "head out of the debris field toward the Magellan!"

"I'm not retreating now!" the pilot called back.

"Draw the Zaku into range of the main guns! Just keep it close enough to make it think it has a chance."

"Damn it! Fine!"

The GM turned and made for the edge of the debris field as if to escape. Ken broke off, discarding his beam spray gun and drawing his beam saber. "Once you get out, stay out!" he called to the fleeing pilot before switching over to the Magellan. "Major! You've got one on one of ours! You have to shoot it off the GM, she's out of ammo!"

"Roger, Captain," Marcan returned calmly from the bridge.

"It was our directive to bring the GMs here, not interfere in the battle," the captain of the Magellan spoke up.

"This isn't an exercise, Captain," Marcan returned with not so much fire that it would distract the rest of the crew. "Our first priority it to bring back as many pilots as possible. Second is the mobile suits, than the mission, understood?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can you track the two mobile suits?" Marcan asked the radar operator.

"Yes, ma'am. I have just enough coverage to focus in on them."

"Good. Calculate the optimal firing position and send the coordinates to our pilot."

"Roger."

The GM skirted around the scrap floating around the battlefield as the Zaku closed in. She finally made her way out of the debris field and into open space. The Zaku followed, closing quickly as the GM cleared the Magellan's line of fire. The Zaku didn't notice the warship open fire in time to avoid the blast. "That was for Bill," the pilot said at the explosion before meeting up with the damaged GM and returning to the Magellan.

A few Zakus were picked up escaping the battlefield out of the Magellan's range at the other side of the debris field. The ones that stayed faired mixed at best with the Federation mobile suits. The Zakus tried to outmaneuver the GMs, but the superior radar of the GMs allowed them to stay ahead of the Zakus. After some tense fighting, the remaining Zakus were routed. Many of the GMs met with the same problem as Ken, having to discard their main weapon. Ken's GM even took some damage by the end of the battle; it was hard to avoid the explosions from destroyed mobile suits in the cluttered battlefield.

Despite the loss of a pilot and two of the GMs (the unit that Ken had helped save was totaled and had to be used for scrap), the pilots still returned to riotous fanfare. It was the first time the Federation had been able to go toe to toe with the Zakus and won without major casualties. The 1st was especially happy to see other skilled mobile suit pilots return from the battle.

"Does this mean we won't be the only mobile suit unit in the Federation?" Holdarin asked. "Can't speak for the rest of the team, but I'm sick of carrying the Federation on my back."

The haughty comment was ignored in favor of giving an answer. "Unfortunately, no," one of the mechanics apologized, "There aren't enough of these things yet. We can spare a few for you, but the rest are being sent to Jaburo to be used as the model for mass production."

Ken walked past the group toward the ready room for debriefing. "The suits need work," he said, stopping in front of the head mechanic.

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"It's more than a match for the earlier model Zakus, but the Zaku II has it edged out in armor, speed, and maneuverability. And its reaction time is slow. If it can't keep up with me, how can it keep up with the enemy?" He started away again, but turned back, "Oh, and add some kind of holster for the main weapon. Unless you want to have to keep replacing it."

"Er… we'll get right on it sir."

"Bet you wish you kept that Gundam thing now, huh?" Ashley called after him. He just ignored her.

Tommy smiled knowingly, "Honestly, I think he had the same problem with Gundam. Sometimes I wonder if it's that he's too fast, not that the mobile suits are too slow."

"Zeon Deikun spoke of a new breed of people born in space," Pat said, more to himself than to the others.

"A new breed of people?" Nicolas questioned.

Pat waved off the thought, "Some other time, Nicolas."

* * *

><p>That went well I think. This overall did what I wanted it to. I'm trying to build more on the characters I've established while still being faithful to the game and it's been a bit hard to get everyone. Still have yet to hear word one on whether or not I'm succeeding. I know I'll have more character bits as time goes on, but I still need to have the human element and need these people to be character to get the reader to care about them.<p> 


	14. Engagement 14: Red-Colored Space

Not really starting this one ahead as much as I would have liked. This is a rather important chapter. This _should_ also be a longer one as this will have interaction between the 1st and the White Base crew. I hope I can pull this off, but I should be able to handle it. This may not be that close to the original show, but it is an adaptation after all.

* * *

><p>With the battle over and the test of the GMs complete, the 1st returned to Luna II. Despite having just received GMs of their own, the most urgent battlefields were still on earth. The GMs and the rest of the equipment and crew were loaded into yet another shuttle. There was another piece of equipment ready for the 1st, but it was earth-only and already on its way.<p>

The 1st had a few hours on Luna II before they were set to reenter the atmosphere. There was a buzz of activity as the Luna II base crew set about repairing the damage to the GMs and readied them for transport to Jaburo. The 1st MS Unit pilots were relaxing in the brake room, taking advantage of finally having a little time to rest.

"I really don't like that version of the GM," Ken lamented as the conversation turned to the most recent battle. "It's slow and it isn't on par with the Zaku. At least not the Zaku II."

"It isn't _that_ bad," Ashley countered, "It's a mass production model. We're just too used to the GM Gs, that's all."

Tommy sighed, "We may be used to higher performance suits, but if the gap between the GM and the Zaku II is that great, it'll be a problem for the new pilots."

"Not you too…"

"It looks like Nicky here's got an opinion!" Holdarin spoke up, slapping the smaller man on the shoulder. Nicolas just fidgeted wordlessly. "Come on, speak up already! It's just us."

That seemed to pull him out of his shell and he shook himself out of his shy daze. "Well… Well, it would be best if the Federation could field mobile suits at least on par with the Zaku. Be we can't, you know? Even if the GM has flaws, we and the other pilots will just have to deal with them. We need _something_, so if what we get isn't good enough, we'll just have to be better than them."

"I like that," Holdarin smiled. "Let's just hope the rest of the Federation is as good as me."

"He said _better_ than the Zeons," Ashley joked.

"Hey!"

Everyone, including Holdarin, laughed at that. Even Pat cracked a smile. Everyone had grown accustom to Holdarin's jokes and were getting better at taking them for what they were. At least it was hoped all his self-aggrandizing was meant to be humor, or he would be intolerable. And as much as it seemed that Pat didn't want anything to do with the team, he was finally starting to come out of his own shell. It was rare the pilots of the 1st had a chance to just talk and get to know each other off the battlefield like this.

The conversation continued for a bit when an alarm started going off in Luna II. The alert wasn't warning of an attack, but it was enough to draw the attention of the pilots. "I'm going to see what's going on," Ken said quickly as he left the break room. His fellow pilots were right on his heels all the same.

"White Base?" the pilots heard Marcan repeat as they entered the control room for Luna II. She was talking to Commandant Wakkien, a tall, thin, blond man with sharp eyes. "Isn't that the Pegasus-Class assault carrier that had been originally been assigned to my unit?"

"It is," the commanding officer of Luna II acknowledged. "Unfortunately, it's unclear if it will be able to make it here to Luna II as it intends with the Red Comet chasing after it."

"We'll escort them." The two officers turned to the pilots for the first time. Ken stepped forward, voicing the determination of the group. "If the White Base is in trouble, we'll shore them up until they make it here."

"Absolutely not!" Wakkien snapped back. "You people and your mobile suits are far too valuable to risk on a ship that might already be lost for the condition it's in. And it's not like we have any forces we have here to spare."

"Commandant, there are _civilians_ on board the White Base right now," Marcan said in a warning tone.

"I am very much aware of that. But that doesn't change the fact that there's nothing to be done."

"Is this how the Federation operates now?" Pat asked, matching Marcan's accusing tone, "Leaving those in need to die?"

"Do you think I'm not as unhappy about the situation as the rest of you?!" the Commandant shot back in an unusual display of emotion for the normally reserved bureaucrat. "I'd send my own Magellan and rescue them myself if I could! I'd even be able to hold my head up high on the bridge for it! But we can't run about helping every charity case that wanders within a few hundred miles!" Wakkien calmed down with a deep breath before continuing, "We have a war to fight. You have to weigh the lives of every loyal citizen of the Earth Federation against that ship, her crew, _and_ the civilians onboard her. And I've determined the risk is too great."

"That isn't you call to make, however," Marcan cut in strongly, "General Revil has given the 1st Mobile Suit Unit the autonomy to engage in whatever battles we see fit."

"You're making a mistake!"

"With respect, sir, there's something you're neglecting in your calculations," Nicolas said with determined confidence.

"And what's that?"

"We're going to win!" Holdarin spoke for the group as they made their way out of Luna II.

It was easy to spot the White Base, even among all the rubble that was surrounding it. Parts of the satellite zone of earth's atmosphere had begun to become cluttered during the earliest years of the Universal Century due to all the raw materials brought back from the asteroid belt. White Base was moored on one of the larger asteroids. Despite the reports of being chased by the legendary ace of the Principality, the Red Comet, the White Base seems largely undamaged.

The 1st's small escort cruiser met up with the White Base and Marcan and the pilots make their way to the bridge where the White Base crew is having a meeting. The oldest person on the bridged looked to be to be only about twenty or so, one Bright Noa, the de facto captain of the White Base after the loss of most of the regular crew.

"We can either make a break for Luna II, or try to fight here…" he said, grimly stating the only two options in their bad situation. "I'd say both have a fifty-fifty chance at succeeding."

"Maybe we can help out those odds," Tommy spoke up from the back of the crowd. The White Base crew turned to see the Federation officers and the entire room seemed to breathe easier.

"You aren't here to take the refugees?" Bright asked, showing much more practical caution.

"We're reinforcements," Ken informed, "We'll do what we can to get you in range of Luna II. We'll have to part ways after that though."

Now Bright relaxed just a little bit, "Really, we'll take whatever help you can give us for however long you can give it. But my crew still needs to decide what to do. I've decided to leave it to all of you. Run or fight?"

"I think we can win!" a young boy with curly brown hair spoke up, "I say we stay and fight!" The crew nearly unanimously agreed. Ken looked at the boy in the white pilot's suit. He recognized him from the report on the Gundam's theft. He was Amuro Ray.

With the crew united in their decision to launch an attack on Char's resupplying Musai, the officers and pilots cleared the bridge to plan the engagement. "If what you're saying is true and the Musai is low on missiles, ammunition, and mobile suits, than the best thing to do would be to take out the supply ship. The Musai won't be able to chase you if they can't fire on you," Marcan noted.

"The problem is that Char and his team are still ready for combat," Bright noted, "After barely escaping him as we have, I can tell you that he lives up to his reputation as the Red Comet. It would be foolish to attack head on."

"I don't suppose you have a plan?" Ashley asked in the direction of Ken, in deep thought.

"The White Base has a fairly heavy armament," Ken thought out loud. It might be possible to draw their mobile suits out away from the Musai and pick them off with the White Base main guns."

"But won't that make the White Base a target?" Amuro asked.

"No, I think I see what he's getting at," Nicolas spoke up. "If the White Base sails on the quickest path to Luna II, the Red Comet will probably send out his Zakus to intercept it. But we'll have some of our mobile suits lying in wait for them so that White Base can hit them without taking retuning fire. Meanwhile, the rest of the mobile suits can attack the Musai and supply ship."

"I approve of this plan if you do," Bright said, turning to Marcan. She also agreed.

"Alright," Ken said, drawing the attention of the pilots, "Guntank is the best equipped to take out a warship, so it will be tasked with the enemy ships." A large, tall man and a clearly teenaged boy both nodded. "Gundam will protect them from any defending mobile suits and the extra Core Fighter will keep any fighters from getting in the way. Ashley, Tommy, Pat. Take three of the Ball mobile armors and watch over them. Holdarin and I will stay with White Base in the GMs and Nicolas will support us in the last Ball." The pilots all agreed and left to prep their mobile weapons

The 1st launched from the escort carrier they had arrived on. Amuro was first off of the offensive team, streaking off with amazing speed. "Keep a sharp eye up there," Holdarin barked at the Ball resting on one of the legs of the White Base. "We're counting on you, so don't screw up and gut us killed, alright?"

"Er, yes sir…"

Ken switched off his main com link and opened a privet channel with Holdarin. "Normally I'd let you work it out on your own," he said with little warning, "But I want you to lay off Nicolas."

Holdarin also cut his main com line to respond with the same level of privacy, "Why? Because he's too sensitive? Sure, he's a nice guy, but if he can't take my guff, there'll be something wrong. Trust me, I know." Ken's silence begged elaboration. Holdarin sighed, "Look, since you're my commanding officer in the field and all, I'm going to tell you something I haven't told anyone else yet. Back home on earth, I have a little brother. The Nicolas reminds me so much of him. They don't look anything alike, but otherwise, I'd swear they were twins. When I went off to join the army, he wanted to follow me and join up too. He doesn't like fighting, or military stuff, or anything like that. He just wanted to be there to protect me. Imagine that! My little brother all worked up to protect me. But he was too young and has a heart condition on top of it. Kid's still tough as nails even though he hasn't even been in a fist fight. I know better than to underestimate someone like Nicky. I'm just trying to help him keep his head on straight. It's when people start thinking about this stuff when they slip up and get killed."

"I see," Ken said, taking the little soliloquy in, "Alright. Just don't take it too far." With that and the White Base underway, Ken returned to normal communication.

"Come on, it's me," Holdarin finished as he did so as well.

Within a few minutes, Zakus started approaching. The group stayed along the rocky surface of the large meteor that the White Base had been moored on. As they approached, they were intercepted by the GMs and cannon shells from Nicolas's Ball. The Zakus scattered, many into the open space above where they could be picked off by the White Base and Nicolas. The surviving Zakus fell back and attacked the GMs, but the GMs were able to avoid the barrage and return fire. The Zakus that weren't hit fell back even further as another Zaku approached. This Zaku II was different from the others; it was bright red and much faster. Holdarin barely got two shots off before the red Zaku buried its heat hawk in the GM's shield. With one brutal stroke, the shield was ripped from the GM's hand and cast aside. Holdarin's GM kicked at the Zaku, but in nimbly dashed away.

"Well, well, well," Char Aznable mused to himself, "Your reaction time is impressive. Even if your mobile suit is somewhat lacking."

Ken blasted away another fleeing Zaku before turning to Char. Nicolas fired on Char, but the Zeon ace seemed to see the attack coming even before it was launched. He dodged the beam spray gun shots from the GMs with ease and, with his Zaku's free hand, drew his machine gun and fired off a few bursts. The shots were dodged easily enough by the mobile suits, but the White Base only narrowly avoided having rounds tear into its engines.

"Captain!" a voice came over Char's radio, "The white one has too much support. The Musai needs help!"

"What's the matter?" Char responded, "Can't you live up to Rear Admiral Kycilia's praise?"

"Char, you're needed _now_."

"Alright, on my way." Char turned around toward his lines and rushed off. Holdarin followed in pursuit before anyone could stop him, switching to his beam saber. He had already caught up with Char by the time the Red Comet had realized he was being followed. But Char still had plenty of time to dodge the incoming attack. Char retuned in kind with his heat hawk, but Holdarin was able to block with his beam saber. "Persistent, aren't you?" Char's Zaku pushed Holdarin's GM away. That gave the GM the room it needed for one mighty stroke. It stopped mid motion when Char's Zaku buried its heat hawk in the GM's belly. "You're good too. …For a Fedie. You might have even lived if this were an ordinary Zaku." The heat hawk finished making its way through the middle of the GM as Ken arrived to challenge the Red Comet. By now the supply ship had fallen to the attacks of the Gundam and all but two Zakus including Chars were lost. "It seems you've won this battle," Char said to Ken on an open channel. "I solute you and your fallen comrade. But I have no intention of making a last stand here."

With that, Char tossed a cross shaped grenade at Ken's GM. Ken put up his shield and it absorbed most of the impact, throwing the GM backward through empty space by the shockwave. Ken landed on a stray asteroid. By the time the GM had landed, the high-performance Zaku was already long gone. Ken's fist struck the ever shrinking dot on his screen with his fist, "Damn it!"

* * *

><p>I'm glad that turned out to be everything I wanted. Hopefully (time permitting) this will be more what the rest of the story looks like. I had indeed planned this from the beginning and hope that it will have the intended impact. On that note, I have the entire series fully planned up to A Baoa Qu. I already have planned who lives and who dies. I really hope to capture the spirit of the original Mobile Suit Gundam with my own spin on it. Of course, I can only do that if I can improve. And I can only do that if I get some critiques. But I digress, I can count the number of people who have done that on one hand, so I'm not getting my hopes up.<p> 


	15. Engagement 15: Humanitarian

I really should have started hours ago (or perhaps days) but that's irrelevant. Didn't really get any comments on character death last time, so that's kind of disappointing, but I suppose that's a sign it's not as good as I thought it was. The next three chapters are pretty important as well. Hopefully this will be more memorable. This chapter is just set up for that, but it should have a good battle. So there's that.

* * *

><p>Many of the mobile suits had taken at least some damage during the battle. There was nothing to be done about the complete loss of Holdarin and his suit, so the crews focused on the units that could be saved. Surprisingly, the team attacking the Zeon ships took more damage, though they didn't lose anybody. Among the enemy Zaku was one pilot who fought like the Red Comet and nearly killed the 1st's Balls and the White Base Guntank.<p>

The operation was still a success, if a hollow one. They repelled the Red Comet handily and only losing one unit in a battle like this was unheard of. The White Base had a free ride to Luna II; there would be no more Zeon attacks by the time they got to the safety of the base's defenses. The pilots and officers returned to the bridge for debriefing. Needless to say, the mood was somber.

"We're terribly sorry about your loss," the helmsman, a too young woman with short brown hair and fair features named Mirai, told them sincerely. The 1st seemed to be taking the loss better, so Ken spoke for the rest of his teammates.

"This isn't the first loss for any of us," Ken sighed. "If all of you stay in this war long enough, it'll happen to you too. But you learn to accept it. No matter how much you resent the idea."

"Well, let's just hope the war comes to an end before we reach that point," Bright said the room unanimously agreeing.

Nicolas let a sad smile sneak onto his features. "Besides," he sighed, "Ensign Holdarin would be angry with us if we didn't keep fighting and avenge him…"

"Well, it's still a pity he died trying to save us," Bright sighed, "We owe him our lives. And all of you. We're in your debt."

"It's nothing," Marcan said easily, "If we don't help those in need, what right do we have to ask when we're in danger?"

"That sounds pretty noble for a soldier," a gray-haired teen sneered. He was summarily ignored, as much as he seemed to like pretending otherwise, he was harmless. In fact, he didn't carry himself that differently from Holdarin.

A communication device went off in Marcan's pocket. He withdrew it and read the message. "Well, it looks like it's time for us to exercise that nobility of ours again. We're being tasked to escort a Salamis that's under threat of attack." She looked up at the White Base crew, "It seems this is where we part ways."

Bright nodded, "Godspeed. And good luck."

The 1st departed for their next mission. The shuttle they were using was fast, but was poorly armed and armored. It stopped just as soon as it got within communication range with the threatened Salamis. "You made it here quick!" the captain of the Salamis said gratefully. Instead of the usual uniforms and insignias of the Federation Navy, the crew of the Salamis could be seen bearing the insignia of the supply corps. "We have some special cargo that needs to be delivered to Earth. Actually, it's set to be assigned to your own unit. If we can make it to the atmosphere, we should be fine. Unfortunately, we've already run across two Zeon patrols. I have a bad feeling the next one won't be a patrol."

"Understood," Marcan returned, "We have some space combat mobile suits we can use to escort you. We should arrive before the next attack."

"Thank you, ma'am," the Salamis captain saluted before cutting the transmission.

"That just leaves what resources are going to be used in the battle," Pat spoke up as a map of the area was called up.

"I suggest we hit them with everything we have." Everyone in the room turned to Ken. He had been advocating using the mobile suits as sparingly as possible to not overtax them. "We still have five GMs from the test group. We'll each head out in one and destroy any Zeon unit that comes close."

Tommy raised an eyebrow, "It's unlikely the Red Comet will be with them if revenge is what you're after."

"And using all our mobile suits at once is risky," Marcan added, "There's a possibility we could have a repeat of this morning."

"That's why we need to be aggressive now. Even if we're all as combat ready as we seem, things like this can start a pattern. We need the momentum from all of our early wins back," Ken reasoned.

"All the GMs are combat ready," Nicolas added.

"I'm for throwing everything at them," Ashley also agreed, "It's the kind of plan Holdarin would have loved."

"I guess now isn't the time to get timid," Marcan said after a bit of consideration. "Alright. I approve if the rest of you are for it."

Pat turned and started out the room right away, "I say we prep the mobile suits and move out as soon as we can. We're still a fair distance from the Salamis." The room agreed and followed him out.

The GMs were quick to prep with the mechanics were finishing the maintenance work. The GMs set out in minutes and rushed toward the fleeing Salamis through space. The Salamis slowly came into view. Ken called his teammate once they got within of the ship, "Be careful not to hit the Salamis. Only use the Beam Spray Gun if the ship isn't in the line of fire if the beam pierces your target."

"We should set up a perimeter around the ship," Tommy suggested. "Pat, Nicolas, and I are better with ranged combat, so we'll stay between the enemy and the Zakus. Captain, Ashley, you can handle the close range combat."

"Roger."

"Alright, let's get on it," Ken agreed as they reached the Salamis. There were no Zakus in sight yet, but the Minovsky Particle density told them they hadn't arrived too far ahead of them. Ken looked over his mobile suit sourly and noticed something; a holster for his main weapon. He'd have to thank the crew for that later. He and Ashley stored their guns and drew their beam sabers, "Watch out for each other. This is going to be a one sided fight!"

The first of the Zakus appeared. It fired on Ken, the machine gun bullets getting absorbed by his GM's shield. Both mobile suits closed at full speed. The Zeon pilot underestimated their closing speed and didn't reach for his heat hawk in time. Ken's beam saber cleaved through it with little effort.

Ken turned to see Ashley in her own engagement. Two Zakus tried to flank her, but shots from the others GMs stopped one Zaku in its tracks. Ken was just a bit too far away to help, so he focused on watching for another attack. Ashley deftly evaded the heat hawk stroke and cut the stunned foe apart. She turned to engage the other, but it was already mortally wounded by Tommy.

Two more Zakus rushed in at Ken and another two at Ashley. The Zeon pilots weren't expecting the lone Salamis to have any support, let alone mobile suit support. Fortunately for the haggard Salamis, the Zakus seemed more inclined to focus on the strange, beam weapon-wielding mobile suits. Ken kept his two at bay with his vulcans and Pat's fire support. He clipped one with the cannon rounds, forcing it into a defensive stance. From this position, Ken had the opportunity to close and slash a deep cut into its body. The mobile suit exploded, Ken having to block it with his shield. The other Zaku tried to take advantage of the pause in Ken's movements, but Pat's beams caught it in the side. It was nothing short of a miracle that the mobile suit didn't explode from the severe damage. Its luck ended when Ken cut the enemy down before it had the chance to flee.

Ashley had similar success repelling her Zakus. In the meantime, another Zaku tried to sneak in below the Salamis where it had few guns and cameras. It was met with Nicolas and his GM however. The bazooka armed Zaku tried to get off a shot, but Nicolas was able to harass it back and ultimately shoot it down. By this point the GMs were starting to separate from the Salamis. The Zeon pilots noticed why quickly and disengaged; the Salamis had reached the outer edges of the atmosphere.

One of the handful of remaining Zakus turned and fired a few potshots at the GMs. Ken seized on it and fired a burst from his vulcans. The Zaku turned at just the right moment for the bullets to impact its back around its main engines. Ken tried to close and stab the enemy through the cockpit, but the Zaku was just barely able to boost away from the thrust with what was left of his damaged engines. Just out of range for another beam saber strike, Ken sheathed it and drew his Beam Spray Gun. The Zeon pilot, thinking he had gotten away, let his concentration slip and didn't see the beam in time to dodge it.

It dawned on Nicolas that they weren't just destroying mobile suits, but also killing the pilots inside. But as he thought about it more, he could practically hear Holdarin's voice in his head telling him he was thinking about it too much. His next thoughts mirrored the others': the only way they could honor Holdarin and all those who had fallen before him was to end the war once and for all.

The 1st followed the Salamis to Earth not long after it landed. Inside was a mobile suit. It was like the GM G in many ways. It had largely the same armor and weapons, though both were radically upgraded. But it wasn't just that or its gray color that set it apart from the GM G. This mobile suit was more powerful, more imposing. This mobile suit was a Gundam.

* * *

><p>It's sort of funny. <em>Mobile Suit Gundam<em> was made before cell phones. I actually had to decide what to call Marcan's smart phone. Do I call it a smart phone? Do I call it a communicator? Do I call it by some made up science-fictiony word? I went with communicator as it just sounded more like MSG to me.

Another little goofy detail is that the computer Zakus don't play like that in the game. In MSG the GM wasn't used until Jaburo, but for obvious reasons the game had to fudge some things as will I. I'm pretty sure the Zeon pilots would want to see what the Federation's mobile suits could do after seeing them for the first time. In the game, though (being pretty old by now) the AI was pretty simple and hugged anything big that you were trying to defend. Personally, I think my version makes for a more exciting battle than the self-exploiting video game. But that's just me.


	16. Engagement 16: Partner

I'm quite surprised this took me so long to get on. Blame Christmas I guess… Anyway, this story should really start to pick up its feet. I don't really have much more to say, so let's get on it.

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><p>"This is the pre-prototype Ground Combat Gundam," a mechanic said, introducing the gray and blue machine. It bore a striking resemblance to the Gundam mobile suit that Ken had tested and that Amuro had been using. Just from the sheer aesthetics it painted a picture of this mobile suit's potential. "This is a scaled down model specialized for ground combat. We hope to mass produce it and use it as the command unit for our ground forces."<p>

"It definitely looks impressive," Ashley commented.

"We've been tasked with another field test, though this should be out last one for a while." Marcan made a point of getting the sentence all out at once before the groan of disapproval came. She turned to Ken and continued, "That said, this won't be a simple exercise with sims. There are enemy forces heading south toward New Yark to reinforce the city. We can't allow the Zeon hold on the city to get any stronger, so you'll be intercepting the enemy with this new mobile suit."

Ken looked away from the new Gundam, "What does the enemy force consist of?"

"Tanks, mostly," Marcan replied, "But they do have a small mobile suit escort."

"We'd like for you to take just this Gundam G with you for this battle," the mechanic chimed in. "I understand if you choose to deny the request, but we would like as sterile a test for the Gundam G as possible."

Ken considered that for a moment, "I think the two of us can handle it." He looked over at his fellow pilots, "But be ready to jump in for me if I need it, okay?"

The other pilots agreed. "That does seem to be the best plan," Marcan nodded. "Alright. Ken go familiarize yourself with the new unit. The rest of you should prepare your own units as well. The operation begins in forty-five minutes."

The pilots hurried off to their tasks. Ken took to the Gundam G immediately. It was fairly similar to the GM G in operation, just with dramatically upgraded performance. There were some differences of course. The cockpit layout was slightly different and the Gundam G had an extra weapon, a small vulcan on the torso. It only took a few minutes for Ken to grasp the operation of the new suit.

The 1st arrived near the Zeon convoy, far enough out that the distance and Minovsky particles would hide them from detection. The Zeons seemed unaware as Ken approached with his Gundam G. The Gundam G put out a lot of Minovsky particles, and while that obscured its own radar blip, the approaching high Minovsky particle density should have tipped the Zeons off. Still, the Federation had only just started fielding mobile suits and many of the Zeon soldiers were probably unfamiliar with anti-mobile suit combat.

Ken slipped through the perimeter the enemy Zakus had set up around the tank column thanks to the topography of the frozen hills and tall pines. The tanks, Zeon Magellas, didn't even seem to notice the approaching mobile suit until Ken opened fire. He started with the torso mounted vulcan, spraying the whole tank line with bullets. The attack was enough to rip apart most of the Magellas, but some of the tanks launched an unorthodox escape unit. Some of the tanks near the back of the line, seeing their comrades explode under the heavy fire, jettisoned the turret/cockpit of the tank, leaving the body to be blown away. The now aircraft activated hidden engines and made to escape, but the Gundam G was too quick for them. After a second to readjust his aim, they too were ripped apart by the vulcan fire.

By now the Zakus were aware of the intruder and were starting to converge. The first fired a long range bazooka shot. It was easy enough to dodge it with a simple jump. And while the thruster enhanced maneuver wasn't the almost-flight that Gundam was capable of, it was still impressive enough to give the enemy Zaku pilot pause. Too long a pause, in fact. Mid way through his jump, Ken turned his machine gun on the attacking Zaku and opened fire. Even though the bullets were the same caliber as those of the GM G, the Gundam G carried a hotter load resulting in much deadlier rounds. It only took three bullets ripping through the Zaku's body to bring it down in an impressive fireball. Another Zaku had been trying to flank the new Federation mobile suit. It stopped abruptly when its ally was destroyed and fired prematurely. The bad aim made the machine gun burst easy for Ken to dodge with a simple sidestep maneuver. He returned fire and killed the Zaku with ease.

Another Zaku approached, heat hawk drawn, ready to drive the weapon into the Gundam G's back. Ken boosted forward, storing his machine gun on a rack under the Gundam G's backpack and drawing his beam saber. He turned quickly and slashed at the enemy Zaku. Unfortunately, the Gundam G's foot landed on the side of a low hill, the icy terrain causing its foot to slip. The beam saber slash was short, cutting into the Zaku's armor but hitting nothing vital. Normally the stumble might have resulted in a mobile suit like the GM G to fall, leaving it exposed to lethal counter attack. But Ken caught the stumble instantly, not missing a beat. The Zaku used the reprieve to take another swing with its heat hawk. It was already half way through its swing, but Gundam G's beam sabre still caught it with plenty of time to spare. The hit caused the damaged Zaku to stumble back and unable to counter Gundam G's final saber stroke, cutting it in half.

Two more Zakus remained, one aiming a long range artillery cannon at Gundam G. Its first, second, and third shots were easily dodged as Ken drew closer. Once in machine gun range, the slow Zaku was felled. The last Zaku was much closer, already firing a bazooka shell at Gundam G. Ken moved the Gundam as if it was his own body, turning and shooting down the rocket with a quick machine gun burst. The bullets not caught in the explosion continued toward the attacking Zaku, but this one was too quick. It leaped into the air, dropping its bazooka and drawing its heat hawk. Gundam G easily avoided the powerful strike simply by stepping back. The Zaku took another swing, this time being blocked by the Gundam G's shield. Ken had already dropped his machine gun and was igniting his beam saber. With one fluid motion, Ken drove his beam saber through the cockpit of the enemy Zaku, killing the pilot and shutting the machine down instantly.

There was some radio chatter, but Ken didn't pay any attention to it. He casually lifted one of his hands off of the controls and looked at it. It wasn't sweaty, it wasn't shaking. He was just in a life or death battle on his own in a new mobile suit and it didn't give him even a moment's concern. He returned to the transport plane that had been their most recent headquarters. "What do you think of the new model?" one of the mechanics asked him after he descended from the cockpit.

"It's perfect," Ken said easily, "Everything I'd want in a mobile suit."

"Well good, because it's being assigned to your team!"

Ken looked back up at the gray and blue mobile suit and smiled. "Well, Gundam, it looks like we're partners."

* * *

><p>Eh, this is pretty okay for how rushed it is. I don't think there's anything I left out from my original plan for it so that's good. Next chapter is a pretty important one, so I hope I can work ahead on it. And I hope to see you there!<p> 


	17. Engagement 17: Rivals

Can't believe I'm doing this to myself on this story in this chapter, but here we go again! I really hope I can make this work with the (unnecessarily) limited amount of time I have. Fortunately, I have a plan! We'll see how awry it goes momentarily…

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><p>The 1st received some good news and some bad news upon arriving at the nearby Federation base after the successful test of the new Gundam G. The White Base, the ship crewed mostly by civilians that they had saved in space was still intact and had entered Earth's atmosphere safely in spite of repeated attacks by Char. Those attacks pushed the White Base off course, however as it entered the atmosphere. The White Base had originally intended to land in South America at Jaburo, but now its destination was half the planet away. And that wasn't even the bad news.<p>

The 1st found themselves heading back to the Zeon controlled city of New Yark. The White Base had been fleeing the Zeons after landing behind enemy lines and had to stop in the city. With Zeon air dominance over the entire area, the White Base had no choice but to hide, taking shelter under the dome of an old, bombed out sports stadium in the middle of some ruins. It was only a matter of time before they were found. And even with Gundam, they'd have no chance of survival, much less escape with the sheer number of mobile suits in the city.

The battle was going to be hard, even with the added battle strength of the Gundam G. On the way to the city, the 1st began planning on how they were going to enter the city. The Zeons knew that the White Base was in the city and were on high alert. Just getting to White Base to defend it was going to be a monumental challenge on its own.

"We'll have to use the stealthy approach," Pat said over a digital map of the city. "You're probably not going to like this, Captain Etto, but I think the only way we'll get in unnoticed is if we each go in alone."

"You're right," Ken grumbled, "I don't like it."

"But he's also right about it being the only way," Nicolas added.

"We should be able to handle it. We have the experience for it now," Tommy assured. "We can regroup once we've breached their perimeter. Even if we get in unnoticed, we won't stay unnoticed for long."

"Alright," Ken said, marking five points on the map. "We'll each take one of these insertion points and head toward the center of the ruins here." Ken marked another point on the map, a fair distance away from where the White Base was hiding. "By the time we regroup, we should have the attention of the mobile suits and will be able to draw it away from White Base."

There was a general agreement in the room until Ashley spoke up. "Wait Captain, you should link up with White Base while the rest of us handle the distraction," she said. Ken opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off, "We can't leave the White Base unprotected. We won't know where their mobile suits are until the fighting starts. If we contact them, any response they give will give away their position to the enemy."

"I'm already not happy with this plan as it is, and now you want to split our forces? I won't be able to support you in any way if I'm defending White Base."

"We know. And we can reposition and adapt once the battle starts and we take stock of the situation."

"I could just overrule you on this you know."

"But you won't because you know it's the right move."

"Ashley!" Nicolas gasped.

"No," Ken grumbled, mood souring by the second, "She's right. If the White Base crew have the same idea we do and send out their mobile suits as a distraction, they may leave themselves unguarded. Just don't any of you get yourselves into trouble. I don't want to have to choose between them and one of you."

"We'll be fine, sir," Tommy said confidently. He smiled, "You'd just better hope we save some of them for you." Ken still wasn't in a joking mood and didn't exactly take the comment well, but he let it go. The five each selected an ingress route and made their way towards their mobile suits.

Complete radio silence was mandatory for the mission until the fighting started. Zeon patrols where everywhere; not just on the ground, but in the air as well. The five Federation mobile suits creped through the ruins of a bombed out part of the massive city. Even in this normally abandoned part of the city, there were still several Zeon Zakus milling about in their search for the hidden White Base. They were easily enough avoided since the GM Gs and Gundam G had better radar equipment. The problem was the Dopps executing sweeps over the city.

Ken finally made his way to the stadium, seeing White Base tucked under what was left of the dome. He opened short-wave communication with the assault carrier. "White Base. This is Ken Etto of the 1st MS Unit. What's your status?"

"Thank goodness you're here!" the young woman on the helm, Mirai, responded. There was a clear quiver in her voice, but was holding up remarkably well for a teenaged civilian. "Amuro is trying to intercept the enemy further into the city with Gundam. We have the Guntank and Guncannon in reserve, but we can't escape until some of the enemy air power is cleared."

"Roger," Ken replied as he jumped onto one of the mobile suit catapults. "I'll take care of any mobile suits that wander by. Amuro will have the support of my team. We'll clear the skies as soon as we can."

Deeper into the city, explosions and gunfire rang out. A second later Nicolas's voice came over the radio, "Captain! We've engaged the enemy with Gundam, but a few slipped past us!"

"Understood. Ashley, I need you to take out the aircraft blocking White Base's escape," Ken ordered.

"Roger!"

"They're not going to let us out of this town," Mirai breathed, perhaps louder than she intended. A second later an angry red dot appeared on Ken's radar and a green shape leached out from some nearby ruins. "They're here!"

The Zaku knelt down and launched missiles at Ken from a missile pod on its leg. Ken took to the air and easily dodged the attack. Ken boosted forward, passing the Zaku to get behind it. When he landed and turned to train his machine gun, he noticed the Zaku making a break for White Base. "How dare you!" Ken took sharp aim. The Zaku wasn't between him and the White Base, but he couldn't afford to make a mistake with White Base already in such dire straits. Ken opened fire, ripping the Zaku apart with gunfire. It only took one short burst to finish it. Another Zaku, this one trying to aim an artillery cannon through a hole in the dome protecting White Base. "Are you going to ignore me too?" The Zaku turned only to see Ken's beam saber come down on the end of the cannon. The glowing blade split the weapon cleanly. The Zaku reached for its heat hawk, but it only got as far as gripping it before the limb was severed. A third and final strike was all that was needed to end the fight.

Ken switched back to his machine gun after dodging the explosion from the felled Zaku. He took a scan of his radar and noticed something that seemed out of place. There was an unfriendly contact moving along the ground, but it was way too fast to be an ordinary Zaku. "Only one mobile suit moves like that…" Ken breathed to himself. Sure enough, as Ken turned the corner to get back in front of White Base, a red mobile suit shot out from behind cover and fired a bazooka shell at him. The shell was fast and accurate, but Ken managed to shake the attack and return fire. The Red Comet danced around the bullets and rushed in between him and the White Base.

"Can't fire on me when I'm so close to your precious Trojan Horse, can you?" Char mocked as his Zaku began to turn toward White Base. Ken adjusted his aim as Char turned his back and fired a burst at the red Zaku's feet, tripping the enemy mobile suit before it had the chance to attack. "Ugh! Not bad…"

With his attention focused on Char, Ken didn't notice the Zaku approaching him rapidly from behind until it was almost too late. Warning lights caught his attention just in time to turn and put up his shield as another Zaku slammed its heat hawk into Gundam G's protected forearm. Had the hit not been blocked, the attack would have split Ken in half inside his cockpit. The hit, enhanced by the full force of the Zaku's thrusters, picked Gundam G up off its feet and threw it forward. The hit landed the mobile suit on its back, leaving the Zaku to rush to the White Base. Just as Char was recovering from his spill, Amuro returned, drawing Char's full attention.

Ken also got his mobile suit back onto its feet. He looked down at his main weapon and found the front half of it missing, probably lopped off by the second Zaku's heat hawk. "When did he…?" Ken looked up and saw the Zaku burry its heat hawk in the turret just below White Base's bridge. No time to waste dwelling on the sneak attack. Ken jumped onto the White Base next to the dangerous Zaku, drawing his beam saber again. The attack should have been too fast to stop, but the Zaku seemed to react precognitively. The Zaku turned and parried the slash with its heat hawk. Ken reacted on instinct, swinging again at the Zaku. This time the Zaku was caught off guard. It again blocked the attack, but now it was thrown off its feet. It sailed into the interior wall of the dome and crash through it. Ken followed through the hole, intending to impale the Zaku on the ground. The enemy mobile suit barely rolled out of the way in time. The Zaku got up and both mobile suits swung again, their attacks meeting in the middle.

Something came over Ken at that moment. It was hard to pin down, merely a vague feeling in the back of his head. It was like a kind of understanding was trying to wash over him. But the feeling was fleeting and vanished when the two mobile suits backed off from each other.

Ken was ready to try again when a voice came over his radio. "You may be one like us," the masculine voice said smoothly. "Tell me, who are you?" His voice wasn't all that different from Ken's, he sounded far too young to be a soldier.

"I don't think I like how calm you sound," was Ken's only response.

"The enlightened needn't feel fear."

Before Ken could respond, Char's voice interrupted. "Geki. Garma's in trouble. He's in the Gaw and it's going down."

"Damn!" The Zaku turned to escape, pausing for some parting words, "We'll meet again… Kenichi." The Zaku took off, vanishing into the tangle of buildings. Ken moved to peruse, but a giant, flaming mass of steel falling from the sky caught his attention.

"Hey Garma, do you read me?" Char said condescendingly to Garma Zabi, a member of Zeon's royal family and commander of the forces in New Yark. Garma had been leading the search for the Federation's new assault carrier personally. It was his selflessness that made him so popular with the citizens of Zeon. But Char was another matter, "Don't blame me, blame the misfortune of your birth."

"Misfortune?"

"You were indeed a very good friend to me," Char said from his hiding place in the ruins below, "Don't take it personally. Thank your father for this!" Char smiled wickedly as Garma's failing Gaw passed overhead, shedding debris.

"You double-crossed me, Char?!" Garma finally spotted White Base taking off from its hiding place and steered what was left of his Gaw toward it. "I am a son of the Zabi family! I'll die with honor!"

With no weapon, Ken could only watch Garma's suicide attack approach the weakened White Base. He saw the pink beams from Gundam's beam rifle fall short of the target, the Gaw just barely too fast for Gundam's lock-on. Ken rushed forward. If nothing else, Ken could hit it with his vulcan gun. But before he had the chance, Amuro's voice rose in his cockpit; "Hey, Ken! Catch!" Ken looked just in time to see Gundam tossing its beam rifle in his direction. Ken's Gundam G caught the weapon and put three shots on target.

With the fuselage ripped open, the already falling Gaw took a flat nosedive. "**HAIL ZEOOOOOO**Oo-!" Garma Zabi's final transmission was cut eerily short as the Gaw smashed into the ruins below and vanished into a mass of fire and metal fragments.

"Hey Amuro, catch," Ken called out to the other Gundam. With a light toss, Ken sent Amuro's weapon back to him. "You'd better get back to White Base. They'll be needing you."

"Thanks, Ken," Amuro returned, "I owe you one."

Gundam took off, catching up to White Base as it started away from the city. The 1st started to converge around the stadium that the White Base had held up in as whatever was left of the Zeon defenders backed off to regroup in a better defended part of the city. "Major Marcan," Ken called once his team was accounted for, "are there any Federation forces nearby big enough to attack the city?"

Marcan was quick to respond, "Yes. The force we supported in our first operation has been reinforced and strengthened since we left. Why?"

"Because tonight is the last night this city spends under Zeon control. We're ending this now!"

* * *

><p>Well, how about that. I like it. Not super heavy in character development, but definitely what I wanted to get done. I'm glad I was able to get this done and not have to chop it up. It's my intention to avoid that sort of thing with Alternate Gundam. But I digress…<p> 


	18. Engagement 18: Triumph

Seriously, where does the week go? This should be a pretty easy chapter, but we'll see. I have a pretty good idea of what I intend to do, so there's not much else to do but start…

* * *

><p>Of course all the fervor in the world wouldn't be enough to take on New Yark alone. The 1st was ready to launch an attack on the occupied part of the city while the White Base was still in view, but there was more to the operation than just the five mobile suits to consider. With all the losses from the previous battle and the death of Garma Zabi, the Zeons weren't out looking for a fight. There was still the Red Comet to be concerned with, but he hadn't been seen since Garma's Gaw went down. That was either a good sign or the start of a bloody day for the Federation.<p>

In any event, as the Zeons backed off and fortified with what they had left after the White Base's rampage, the Federation coordinated with the 1st to plan their attack. The short reprieve from battle also gave the supply corps a chance to deliver a new weapon for Ken's Gundam G. They called it a beam rifle, though it was smaller than the one carried by Gundam and had a lower output. It honestly looked more like a beam carbine to Ken, but he was still more than grateful for the still powerful new weapon.

The 1st was already in the city and had the eastern section by the Atlantic covered. They were hold up there and would draw the attention of the enemy once the battle started. Tommy decided to take advantage of his sniper training and use the 180mm cannon they got from Matilda to support the operation from the ruins. The other four mobile suits would try to draw in the enemy Zakus and engage them away from the populated areas. Meanwhile, the Federation Armored Division blockading the city would move in and try to take the city block by block if they had to. The problem was getting the mobile suits to attack the 1st. The Zeons were wising up to the Federations tactics since they only had the one unit of mobile suits.

Tommy ultimately hat to make the first move. He spotted a Zaku near the edge of the Zeon controlled part of the city and took aim. The shot blasted the head and part of the top of the torso off the Zaku, causing it to fall limply to the ground. Bullets started to fly from the city toward Tommy's position. He had picked a safe enough location and felt content to just wait out the gunfire, but some rockets started heading toward him. The explosive shells could cause him some serious problems if he let them get to close. Unfortunately, moving revealed his general location. Several Zakus started moving out into the ruins after the lone GM G, but the instant they stepped out from their cover they found themselves in the middle of a crossfire.

The machine guns of the three GM Gs pummeled the Zakus back and Ken's beam shots picked off any that tried to stand and fight. The 1st moved forward, picking off an unsuspecting Zaku as they moved into the part of the city that was still standing. The sky scrapers made the battlefield seem like a thick jungle as the 1st progressed slowly. Tommy set up again on the roof of a particularly large building that gave him a view of the whole battlefield. He saw the Federation forces west of the city advancing meeting varied resistance. Some blocks cheered the Federation forward, warning them of Zeon traps and ambushes while others tried to hinder them with Molotov Cocktails and other improvised weapons. While the Zeon sympathizers weren't that much of a big deal, but the Zeons put up a hard fight. Pat's fire support seemed to be much more helpful in the slower paced tank battle, so he focused on that.

The rest of the 1st also got much the same treatment, accolades on one block, aggression on the next. They largely ignored it, not wanting to be led astray by a clever Zeon civilian. They got several hits on their radar a few blocks out and started toward them. Two of the contacts were different, though. They were fast like the Red Comet, but didn't move like any other mobile suit. They could turn a corner instantly and were nearly on the 1st before they had a chance to react. When the new, bulky, black mobile suit slid into view it leveled a bazooka at the Gundam G and GM Gs, no doubt with the intention of blowing the entire group away with a single explosive shot.

The 1st split into two groups, ducking into side streets and fanning out so as not to get surrounded. The Zakus and other new one were trying to push the 1st out of the heart of the city. The 1st responded by outflanking them in an attempt to pick them off one by one.

"That new model," Nicolas breathed as he snuck down a tight street, "It's got hovercraft feet…"

"That explains the speed," Pat replied, careful not to lose his concentration as he scanned the streets for the enemy.

"Be careful. We don't know what it can do yet," Ken ordered in the same state of hyperawareness. There a silent acknowledgement of that as they progressed. With the two groups of mobile suits keeping each other tied up, the superior numbers of the Federation started to make their way toward city hall, Garma Zabi's former seat of power in the city. With the battle turning against them, the Zeon mobile suits rushed the 1st, hoping to catch them off guard and push them away so they could help their allies.

The attack was fast and unexpected, but the 1st was able to stay just barely ahead of it. The Zakus tried to get in as close as they could, but they were picked off before they could get close. Ken's beam carbine in particular brought the Zakus down quickly. Even if it wasn't as powerful as Amuro's, it still had more than enough power to rip apart Zaku armor.

That gambit took up the last bit of time the Zeon mobile suits had as the Federation armor and ground forces converged on New Yark's city hall. Most of the enemy mobile suits started to retreat. The other Federation ground forces asked if they should try to cut off their escape route. "No, let's not push our luck for today," Ken returned. The tank commander agreed and Ken relaxed into the seat of his cockpit. The tide of the war was turning, if slowly. Now the Federation had a mobile suit unit too.

New Yark's city hall was commandeered for the Federation officers and the 1st MS Unit to use that night. It would be a chore keeping New Yark as the Zeons would no doubt try to take it back, but for now, it was a place to rest. That evening, there was a news bulletin that took over every monitor on earth and in space. Just days after his death, Garma Zabi's state funeral was being broadcast live to the whole Earthsphere. Gehren Zabi, Garma's older brother and the supreme commander of Zeon's martial forces, spoke before throngs of Zeon civilians.

Ashley groaned as she and the other pilots watched on from the former mayor's office. "Do we really have to watch this propaganda garbage?"

"It's best to know your enemy," Tommy reminded her.

"I'm curious to see how far they think they can take it," Ken noted.

"Take what?" Nicolas asked.

"The Zabis are nothing but a bunch of fascist dictators," Pat growled, "They keep lying to the Zeon people but there's no one to tell them anything else."

Gehren, a gray-haired man dressed to the nines in his military uniform before a massive pile of flowers and a portrait of his brother, begun dramatically. His powerful voice echoed through the elaborate speaker system, giving his already weighty and flowery speech even more dramatic gravitas. "We have lost a hero to our glorious and noble cause! But does this foreshadow our defeat?! No! It is a new beginning! Compared to the Earth Federation, the national resources of Zeon are less than 1/30th! Despite this major difference, how is it that we've been able to fight for so long?! My people! It is because our goal in this war is a righteous one!"

"How many dictators before you have claimed that?" Ashley asked the screen.

"You of all understand this the best. We were driven from Earth and forced to become colonists in space. For fifty years, a handful of elites on Earth have extended control of the Earth Federation into space! How many times has the Federation quashed our demands for freedom? As long as we, the Principality of Zeon, fight for this sacred cause, God will not abandon us! My beloved brother, Garma Zabi, was sacrificed! Why?! History demands that we, the chosen nation, must dominate this new age! We must not become complacent and we must bring an end to this stalemate! Together we have struggled in the harsh life of space and built this new culture on which we stand. Zeon Daikun said that the rebirth of man would begin with us, those who live in space!"

Pat's fists clenched at the mention of the founder of Zeon, "I _hate_… the Zabi family!"

"However, the arrogant worms of the Earth Federation claim that they are the ones to control mankind and resist this renaissance. Many of you have lost fathers and sons to the Federation's senseless resistance! You must keep this sadness and hatred alive within you! My brother Garma Zabi has shown us these virtues through his own valiant sacrifice! We must gather this hatred and crush the Federation, for true victory is within our grasp. Victory is the ultimate vindication to all of those who have sacrificed their lives in this conflict! My people! My people, rise and transform your sorrow into anger! Never forget that we, the citizens of Zeon, are the chosen! We, the superior race, shall save mankind! Hail Zeon!"

Many of the young pilots were taken back to their all too recent high school days as the crowd repeated Gehren's last two words in a terrifying chant. It reminded them of another bit of propaganda from a dictator with aspirations of world conquest. It was a film called "Triumph of the Will".

* * *

><p>I may be a little on the nose with the ending, but I think it's okay. Besides, not many people get what the Principality of Zeon is supposed to be a reference to until Degwin Zabi out and out states it near the end. Mobile Suit Gundam is an enduring series because it shows us the tragic mistakes that can be made when boundless ambition and arrogance meets with the best of intentions.<p>

This chapter had a different kind of mobile suit battle, a more chess-like one that I kind of liked. Probably won't be a common thing, but it's nice to change it up once in a while. This is kind of a bit departing from the game too, but I feel having things go perfectly for the 1st every time will hurt the tone I'm building toward.


	19. Engagement 19: Reflexes

*This was finished on time, but an error with caused me to be unable to post the document online with any method. Out of anger, I haven't even opened my laptop since, thus the super late update. I apologize for the delay.*

I've got a lot of behind the scenes stuff involved in this chapter, but I don't want to say anything lest I drop a spoiler in the opening A/N. Suffice to say that this isn't what I originally expected it to be. I hope that means it will be better than I feared, but of course, that has yet to be seen. Of course, I also stupidly forced myself into a time crunch, but what else is new?

* * *

><p>New Yark was as secure as it was ever going to be. The Zeons were a constant, looming threat, but after the losses they took they didn't have the battle strength to openly attack the city. Now that the 1st could actually get a good look at the city out of combat, it was a sad sight. Ashely in particular felt disheartened by the state of the city since she grew up just a few hours away. Large chunks of the city were just flat out ruins with no remaining structures. Still, the people that stayed in the city after the Federation won it back were hearty. They'd get their city back someday. Provided the war ended soon.<p>

After a day and a half of much needed rest, the 1st got their next set of orders. There was going to be a long string of operations in eastern Europe and in Asia. The 1st was to head there and support allies as necessary. The 1st wasn't told the name or goal of this directive, but it was pretty clear the ultimate goal was to cut off Zeon's supply of terrestrial natural resources. Zeon controlled parts of Eurasia were largely used for strip-mines to feed the Zeonic war machine. The largest of these bases was the massive Odessa facility. Taking that would be an ambitious project. It had been long considered impregnable due to its heavy fortifications and high concentration of Zaku mobile suits. Taking the outlying mining camps was definitely something that could be more reasonably done, but Odessa herself was Zeon's second strongest stronghold on earth next to the California base.

With the 1st finally starting to keep enemy mobile suits at bay, an attack on Odessa seemed a lot less suicidal and costly. That said, it was still a monumental task to undertake. It wasn't one hundred percent clear if the operation was going to be an effort to weaken Odessa, or to take it outright. It did explain all of the resources being poured into Belfast. No matter the target, going deep into Eurasia meant the Federation had better be loaded for bear.

The first destination for the 1st was Spain. They would link up with Federation forces and choose targets based on priority. At least in theory. On the way there however, the transport ship the 1st was using picked up an unusually high concentration of Minovsky Particles. The density was too great for it to be a single, or even multiple mobile suits. It was clearly being used to black out radar in the area.

"We should check it out," Ken noted, looking at the map and noting how close the reading was to civilian cities in nearby Iceland.

"I disagree," Marcan said from farther up in the plane, "I feel we should get to the Eurasian front as soon as possible. It does worry me though. If you really want to scout the area, I won't order you not to."

"Alright. I'll take the Gunperry." Ken got up and started moving toward the cargo hold of the ship to prepare for his departure.

"Hold on," Tommy said, getting up from his seat to stop Ken. "You're always stressing that we always stay in groups so we have backup, and now you want to go it alone?"

"He's right. I'll go with you," Nicolas volunteered.

"Me too," Ashely agreed.

"Alright, fine. But there's only two Gunperrys," Ken noted.

"I'll go with you then," Pat said, speaking for the first time since the trip began.

Ken nodded, "Alright. We'll try to make this quick." The two pilots disappeared through the doors and made their way to their mobile suits and the prototype mobile suit transport planes. The planes themselves didn't look that impressive since they consisted almost exclusively of their rotary engines and a cockpit connected by a tiny frame to make space for a cargo container large enough for a mobile suit, its equipment, and a small payload of powerful missiles.

The two Gunperrys took off from the deck of the transport ship and headed towards the dead zone of Minovsky Particles. Just before they entered the radio interference zone, Ken ordered the Gunperrys to low altitude. If there was indeed an enemy force producing the Minovsky Particles, they'd no doubt have guards keeping watch since they'd have no radar coverage themselves.

Ken and Pat neared the center of the Particle field and found the source was a fairly large island. The island wasn't huge, but it was big enough to support a small evergreen forest. It also had the disadvantage of not being small enough to see at the altitude the Gunperrys came in on. Ken and Pat landed to board their mobile suits and investigate, but the minute their boot hit the ground, shots started sailing past them from the trees. They both took cover behind their planes and drew their pistols to return fire.

"They saw us coming," Pat called over the fighting, "I don't think they have any mobile suits or they'd be here by now!"

"Agreed! Get to your GM G and get into the ocean! I'll try to use Gundam G to push them around! Whatever they're hiding here will probably be in the opposite direction they run since they won't want me to find it!"

"Understood!"

Both men ran to the backs of their Gunperrys to get into their mobile suits. Ken got into his without any trouble, but by sheer bad luck, the enemy had a clear view of the back of Pat's. Once Ken activated Gundam G, he grabbed his machine gun and stood, spraying the tree line with bullets. This was more than enough cover for Pat and he was able to get to his GM G and get into the sea safely.

There was panic on the Zeon base on the other side of the island. Many of the people there were scientists and programmers, not regular soldiers. The commander was a regular soldier however, and he ordered everyone to calm down. "Launch the D'aku!" the officer ordered.

"B-but it's only just passed preliminary testing, sir!"

"It'll have to be good enough," the officer said. "If we don't do something they'll find this place and destroy it. Besides, what better way to test our new toy than to send it against those Feddie imitation suits? This will be Garma Zabi's legacy! His automated mobile suit will destroy the accursed enemy mobile suits that killed him!"

Ken was following along as he ran the Zeon infantry that had attacked him at a slow pace. He couldn't have contact with Pat with all the Minovsky Particles in the area so he had to keep his eyes up and put his faith in Pat's skills. Neither of which proved very hard. He had almost made it halfway across the island when a section of the forest started to move. Realizing it was an underground hanger, Ken turned to the new treat. A mobile suit rose from the ground to face Ken. It was clearly Zeonic, with one pinkish red eye, its Zaku like head, and armor or soft curves and imposing spikes. That said, it definitely wasn't a Zaku. It seemed a bit bigger and clearly had thicker armor and was painted black like the hovering new model from New Yark. It also only carried one visible weapon; a large sword that glowed with the same thermal energy that gave the Zaku's heat hawk the bulk of its cutting power.

_That thing can't possibly be for combat_, Ken thought as he stared down the bulky thing, _it would overbalance immediately if you didn't watch its footing_. Ken found himself surprised when the monstrosity lunged forward after him. He tried to raise his weapon, but the giant sword caught it and sliced it in half. Ken instinctively raised his shield and backed off firing his chest mounted vulcan. Still, he made a conscious effort to dodge the enemy's next attack. His shield would mean absolutely nothing against such a big weapon. Still, how was that pilot balancing that heavy mobile suit through the dash and the sword stroke without falling?

That was when Ken noticed some of the enemy's odd behavior. It was clear his vulcan shot wouldn't do anything even if he used it all day, but the mobile suit still backed off from it. It charged again, but in the almost exact same way. There was little variation in its movements. One sword stroke down, another from left to right, another diagonally upward. As Ken backed away from the enemy and drew his beam saber he came to a realization; "You're just an empty robot!"

The mobile suit drone swung down at Ken. The predictable attack was easy to dodge and counter. Ken slashed across the robot's sword arm, but his beam saber didn't cut through. Some of the armor melted a little and was pushed away, but Ken hadn't even made it to any of the wiring or hydraulics yet. The enemy spun and took another cleave at Ken. This fast attack was harder to dodge, but Ken still saw it coming. The drone may have been predictable, but its reaction time and control was super human. And it could do the necessary calculations to keep such a heavy unit from overbalancing in combat like no human ever could. Ken _had_ to end this thing.

The mobile drone raised its sword again. In that moment, Ken had a flash of clarity. It was like he was able to take in the scene over the course of thirty seconds rather than one. "There!" The enemy unit swung too slowly. Ken drove his beam saber into the drone's underarm, finding a soft spot in its armor. From there it was easy to cleave its sword arm off, leaving it defenseless.

"Activate the self-destruct before the Federation captures it!" the Zeon officer ordered almost a mile away in the center of the island. One of the scientists was about to comply when Pat's voice rang out form his mobile suit's speakers.

"You're not going to be doing anything but shutting off the Minovsky Particles and walking out here with your hands up." Indeed the Minovsky Particles dissipated and the fair sized Zeon research team left the tree or so buildings that made up their compound. On the other side of the island, the drone lost whatever fight it had left and shut down. Unsurprisingly, the instant the OS turned off it overbalanced and fell over onto the ground.

About an hour later, Ken in his Gunperry was in radio range of the transport ship taking the rest of his team to Spain. "Mission accomplished. Enemy outpost neutralized. Local Federation Forces are clearing the island now. Over."

The room looked around at each other. Eventually Ashely just shrugged and smiled. "Never a dull moment…"

* * *

><p>So yeah, in the mission of the game this is based on, you fight a melee only Zaku that has a unique name starting with the letter D. Given the vagueness of the mission description, how well the enemy fought, and the name starting with D, I thought I was fighting a "Drone". Had I looked closer (mind you this is hard with how dangerous this stupid NPC is) and been able to make out the actual letters with the poor graphics, I would have seen it didn't say "DRONE", but "DOAN". I did catch it on the playthrough I'm doing as I write each chapter and I made a point of looking this "Doan" up. Turns out he's a one-off character from MSG. Never heard of Doan? Don't feel bad, I haven't either. Turns out his episode was cut from the North America release due to Tomino not liking the quality (some sources say style) of the animation on the episode. The more you know.<p>

As it turns out, given some geography quirks and a total lack of logic when it comes to fighting Doan based off of the story synopsis I found, I kind of had to change what I was going to do here. I'm actually pretty happy about that too. I like being original and not doing _too_ much piggybacking off of the source material. I've got to do something new with it to make it worth it, right? And all that said, I also really like the end product. Not my favorite, but I like it.

Incidentally, I was going to have the drone be a Zaku with only a heat hawk like in the game mission, but I decided to have a little fun with it. I think the D'aku fits in quite well with the MSG machine cannon pretty well. (And yes, if anyone who doesn't know Gundam, the D'aku is an original creation of mine.)


	20. Engagement 20: European Champaign

Not starting this as soon as I wanted, but that's okay. I have all my preliminary work done, so I should be able to get this done rather quick. This chapter may not be that earthshaking, but the next one I know will be. On that note, let's get through this one;

* * *

><p>The rest of the way to Spain was mercifully uneventful as the 1st's transport docked and the pilots and mobile suits departed. The small city wasn't exactly a Federation stronghold, but was far enough from Zeon territory that they could feel safe anyway.<p>

The Federation was starting to gear up to move deeper into Europe where the Zeon forces were active, meaning a lot of transports were moving supplies from cashes to the front. One such unit in the Media Supply Corps caught the 1st's notice.

"Matilda!"

The pilots of the 1st joined Lt. Matilda as she prepared a flight of her transport planes. "Oh, hello again!" she called and waved them over. The group arrived and Matilda left the rest of her crew to finish up with their preparations for departure. "Look who it is again; the Federation's own mobile suit team. You're here for the upcoming operation I take it?"

"That's right," Tommy nodded.

"It looks like everyone not on the moon is," Ashely noted. The city they were in was sleepy and old, but the number of military vehicles and personal made it all feel uneasy. The Federation was moving fast and they were using whatever they could to start their operation as quickly as possible even if it meant setting up in a city where half of the buildings were made with terracotta roofs.

"Where are you headed, Matilda?" Ken asked.

"Toward an advanced force east of here. They've been encountering enemy forces and are running low on ammunition and spare parts." One of the supply corps officers jogged up to Matilda and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to the officer and he nodded, signaling that they were prepared to set off for their supply delivery. "Well, it looks like I'm off."

Ken saw the Media Transport Plane pilots start to board the barely armed craft and ready for takeoff, but no other forces seemed to be ready to move with them. "Don't you have an escort?" he asked Matilda before she could get to her plane.

"Are you kidding? No one has an escort!" Matilda scoffed, "Most of our supply lines are protected with prayers rather than guns."

"The Federation is really stretched that thin?" Pat asked quietly. "Both sides have been run totally ragged, but it's hard to believe we're so undermanned that our own supply lines have to be left unguarded."

"It's a good thing that the Zeons are having trouble keeping up as well. Otherwise they'd have cut off all of our advanced forces the instant they were an hour away from the nearest supply base," Ken noted to which everyone agreed. "It's just surprising they've taken so few losses relative to us. It's a testament to just how powerful mobile suits are. Without them, Zeon wouldn't have lasted thirty days."

Again, there was agreement all around, but after nodding Matilda gave the group a genuine smile, "I guess it's a good thing we have you people then, isn't it?"

"You're too kind ma'am," Nicolas said humbly.

"Well, speaking of which," Tommy said, gesturing back to their mobile suits being wheeled off the transport ship, "if you give us a few minutes, we could join you as an escort."

"Oh, no! I couldn't ask that of you."

"It's fine Matilda," Ken assured. "We're here to shore up units in need. We're allowed to act as we see fit."

"That's right. Securing a supply line to the front is a worthy enough task for us," Nicolas assured, "Let us be your escort."

"Well, alright. But understand I won't be able to help you out with supplies," Matilda warned, "Everything I have is needed elsewhere."

"That's fine," Ashley said happily, "We have all the supplies we need for once for now."

"I'll have us ready to move out in three hundred seconds," Pat said as he set off for the mobile suits.

The 1st was ready to leave in a little over half that time after informing the Major of their plans. She would follow in an AWACS plane and direct the mission from above. It took a few hours for anything to even happen. Perhaps in anticipation of the Federation operation, the Zaku activity in central Europe was fairly high, even given there was little strategic value in the area. In spite of all the wars fought there in the past, the Zeons had little interest in the continent since it was so developed. Most of its natural resources had already been extracted and its cities weren't the bastions they had been with the continent seeing little major conflict since the middle ages.

But with the Federation encroaching on Zeon controlled territory, there was more movement across the continent. Most Zeon forces were left to guard their strongholds, but marauding Zakus roamed, hunting for easy prey. That said, they weren't very organized and didn't have the numbers to do much more than stumble across a handful of supply planes here or there.

A few hours before the Medias arrived at their destination, a pack of roaming Zakus started to swing close to their route. It wasn't clear if they had detected the Medias or not. It wasn't a risk worth taking and Ken and Tommy set off to intercept the Zakus before they got any closer. With Marcan guiding them as best as she could, Ken and Tommy were able to find the Zakus before either party was on top of the other.

The about four Zakus made visual contact about at the same time as Ken and Tommy among some hills. Both sides took cover behind the rolling hills as they fired on each other. The Zakus were out of range for their machine guns, leaving the bazooka equipped Zaku I the only threat unless the fight got closer. Ken's beam rifle on his Gundam G fell just short of the targets as he found out when he started to fire in the initial engagement, so he decided to take out the bazooka shells as they got closer.

Tommy, meanwhile, laid his GM G down and took aim with his 180mm cannon. Since the Zaku I was the only threat at their range, he placed his crosshairs just above its torso to compensate for the bullet drop and fired. The only lightly armored Zaku I was devastated by the attack, destroyed in a single hit.

Two of the remaining Zakus started to move closer as the third picked up the bazooka from the fallen Zaku. The three Zakus opened fire again, forcing Ken to take cover. Tommy waited out the barrage, lining up his next shot on one of the approaching Zakus.

"Are you okay?" Ken asked over the radio as bullets and explosive shells impacted the hillside.

"I've had worse without a giant robot to protect me," Tommy noted calmly as he squeezed off another shot. The round caught the Zaku in the shoulder, ripping its arm from its body and causing it to explode. "Fire pulled me to the right a little…"

The other Zaku approaching was now close enough that Ken could attack it more effectively. He circled around the hill they were using as cover and tried to sneak up on the enemy. Meanwhile, Tommy lined up the last of the Zakus in the distance. Another salvo from the Zakus forced Tommy to roll away. He was able to get off one last shot before he had to take cover, but didn't see if it landed. Meanwhile, Ken had gotten around behind the closer of the Zakus, focused on Tommy's GM G. Ken was able to get behind it and cut it in half with his beam saber before it even knew he was there. Just before it exploded, Ken dashed away.

The last of the Zakus was indeed hit by Tommy's shot, but not fatally. The damaged Zaku slunk away before the fight got any more costly. Both Gundam G and a little more so the GM G took damage in the fight, but nothing a little maintenance couldn't fix. The two Federation mobile suits set out to rejoin their unit.

"That was some good shooting," Ken complimented on the way back.

"Thanks," Tommy said lightly, "But this thing wasn't exactly made with the marksman in mind. You're good with machines, right? How about you help me modify this thing to make it easier to snipe with?"

"Sure."

Matilda and the rest of the Medias were able to get her supplies to the needy forces without incident and Ken and Tommy were able to hook back up with the others without anything going wrong. The 1st wanted to stick around and see if there was anything they could do to help out the advanced forces, but with the supplies they needed, they were fine. It didn't take the 1st long to find another group in need of their assistance, though. Before the sun set that evening, they got a call from their old friends on the White Base.

* * *

><p>I like what I did with this one. I'm trying to mix up the kind of fights the 1st gets into and their degrees of success to keep things interesting. I'm also trying to play with developing the mobile suits since my idea behind why the 1st was made in the first place was to test the prototype mobile suits and how a mobile suit team is supposed to work for the Federation. If I'm not doing a good job of that, please let me know. Until the next battle.<p> 


	21. Engagement 21: This is No Zaku

When I can't even work on this one in advanced you know it's bad. I don't know how this one will turn out. It's one that I've had planned for some time, but the White Base stuff isn't super easy when I have to be concerned with what I can or can't change. Hopefully this will work out.

* * *

><p>To the surprise of the 1st, the White Base and her crew of teenagers had been redirected to Europe after escaping New Yark, effectively making them an independent unit like the first. There was a cold logic to it, Amuro and the Gundam were a terror on the battlefield. The Zeons had taken to calling them "the White Devil". Still, it felt wrong to send kids onto the front line. The members of the 1st may have been young themselves, but at least they could all drink.<p>

All that aside, the White Base had managed to prove itself and had drawn enough Zeon attention that yet another dangerous ace was chasing them. This time it was the legendary Ramba Ral. Char hadn't been seen on the battlefield since the White Base escaped from New Yark, though there was no reason to believe he was dead. Still, the absence of the Red Comet was unsettling.

The White Base had taken a course deep into the heart of Eurasia, into a part of the world referred to as the "Middle East" in the past. It was deep in Zeon territory, but because it was so sparsely populated and the Zeons were stretched so thin, it wasn't hard to see the White Base cutting so deeply into the area.

Before leaving to meet up with White Base, Matilda gives them a new weapon for the Gundam G; a rocket launcher. It was similar in function to the bazookas the Zakus used, but radically improved. It took two days for the 1st to get to White Base, but they were all still in one piece when they arrived. Though, that may not have held true for the Gundam much longer. As the 1st approached the White Base, they got a frantic distress call. Apparently Gundam was engaging an enemy force and surrounded. The 1st scrambled, Ken and Nicolas heading to assist Gundam while the others linked up with White Base a bit behind the fight.

Ken and Nicolas ingresses from some craggy mountains, moving around mounds of stone to see Gundam completely surrounded. The instant the two appeared from behind the obscuring mounds, a Zaku fired a long range bazooka shot. The missile closed quickly, giving Ken just barely enough time to sidestep it. With Ken having selected the rocket launcher, Nicolas had taken the beam rifle, and was able to place two shots on the Zaku before it could move to evade. Ken rushed forward to assist Gundam, locking on to a Zaku approaching the Gundam from behind. The shot was a direct hit, causing the Zaku to vanish into a massive explosion.

To Ken's surprise, the Gundam didn't move out of the way, getting staggered by the explosion. "I'm an ally!" the voice of the pilot called out. The problem was it wasn't Amuro's voice.

"Wait, who's in there?" Ken demanded.

"It's me, Sayla Mass!" the woman's voice replied, "I took the Gundam becau-" Her explanation was cut off by more gunfire from the Zakus. Ken was able to avoid the attack, but the Gundam's already sluggish movements were slowed further by the attack.

"Never mind the why," Ken said, returning fire to scatter the Zakus. "If you're going to use that suit, you'd better make use of it. Just keep moving and focus on dodging their attacks."

"We'll cover for you, Miss Mass, please try to disengage!" Nicolas assured as he too opened fire.

The Zakus were little challenge to the two, giving Sayla the chance she needed to catch her breath. The battle looked like it was about to be brought under control, but another mobile suit rushed in. It was pretty clear this hulking blue Zaku-like machine was after the Gundam, so Ken and Nicolas stepped in to get in its way. They were both blasted off their feet as the new mobile suit passed, their shields saving them as they were the only thing that stopped the unit's lightning fast sword strokes from slicing clean through them right there.

"You'd best not underestimate me, kids," the pilot said over an open channel. The voice was a pretty famous one. That and the blue paint scheme made it clear that they were up against Ramba Ral himself. Ramba Ral tried to bring Gundam down in one stroke, but Sayla was able to move out of the way and back away from the new model. "Not bad, Gundam."

The Zeon ace sensed an attack coming from behind him and was able to leap away from Ken's beam saber stroke with time to spare. It turned and fired some kind of electrified whip weapon and Gundam G. Ken also backed off from the attack with time to spare, but the enemy mobile suit still managed to keep him off guard. "What the hell is that thing?"

Ramba Ral seemed to chuckle for a moment, "You people _are_ young. Well, you'd best not underestimate this mobile suit here either. This is no Zaku, boy. No Zaku!" The new model charged forward, brandishing its rather large, heated blade. Ken blocked the attack with his own weapon, but he barely dodged the follow up attack that came just a breath later.

Ken backed off, giving Nicolas the space he needed to fire off a few shots at the quick threat. "Captain, it's a close combat suit!" Nicolas observed as Ramba Ral tried to close on him.

"Right, keep your distance from it!" Nicolas held the Zeon ace at bay, giving Ken enough time to switch back to his rocket launcher and line up his shot. The attack was on target, but Ramba Ral was able to juke it with his mobile suit's speed. It turned in Ken's direction and seemed to point at him. Gunfire erupted from the enemy's fingertips, narrowly missing the Gundam G. "Doesn't that thing have any weaknesses?!"

Ramba Ral laughed again, "Did you Feddies really think you could compete with our mobile suits?" Some more Zakus approached, but in rapid succession, they were blown away by an unseen attacker. "What? Where's that fire coming from?"

Everyone looked over in the direction of White Base. The carrier ship had caught up, as did its contingent of mobile suits. They all opened fire on Ramba Ral and his forces, but the commander and most of what remained were able to escape.

With the battle over and the Gundam retrieved, Sayla was ordered to the brig. The 1st decided to stay with the White Base for a little longer given the threat of Ramba Ral, so Ken volunteered to escort Sayla, a young woman with fairly short, pale blond hair and sharp blue eyes.

Before closing the cell door, Ken spoke up. "You did well for your first time," he said honestly. That didn't seem to give Sayla much comfort as she sat on the cell bench, staring at her shoes. "Why'd you do it?"

"It doesn't matter," she said sadly. "I know how stupid what I did was. There's no point in trying to explain my actions."

Ken just shrugged and closed the door, "Well, just watch your foot placement next time." Sayla wasn't sure if she was supposed to take that seriously or not.

Meanwhile, Ramba Ral was just making it back to his camp. He dismounted his mobile suit and greeted his second in command, a striking blond woman. "Hamon, how are you my dear?" Ramba Ral greeted sweetly.

"My, my," she said, looking over the returning forces, "It looks like you were put through quite a lot by the white devil this time."

"It wasn't just the white one this time," Ramba Ral explained, "That other Federation unit with mobile suits showed up too. They were good, but nothing I can't handle."

"Oh, by the way, we have a guest," Hamon said, gesturing to a nearby soldier.

Ramba Ral gasped with joy, recognizing the soldier instantly. "Well will you look at that! It's been far too long, Geki."

"It has," the dark haired, blue eyed soldier returned, "But I'm afraid I'm not here for a social call. I'm here for Kenichi."

* * *

><p>Well that wasn't the disaster I feared it could have been. I like it over all and it's nice to set up some important things for later. This is where this story should really start to get going and be interesting. I'm going to try to work ahead on the next chapter, but we'll see. Either way, it should be a thing. Until next time.<p> 


	22. Engagement 22: Feeling

Ugh. I can't seem to work ahead to save my life. Okay, so this should continue with the more character focused stuff. I actually haven't seen Mobile Suit Gundam in a while, so I'm kind of doing this by the seat of my pants. That said, I do kind of have license to change things since the 1st wasn't there in the series and, well, like I've said; what's the point if there are no differences?

* * *

><p>"So how do you compensate for the precise controls in close combat?" Amuro asked as he looked over Tommy's modified GM G with Ken. "Wouldn't the thing go flying off its feet like this if it came under direct attack?"<p>

"No, but we had to mess with the control panel and add some things for the fine control mode," the other pilot answered. "That wasn't really the hard part, though."

"Yeah, I figured. What'd you do to get the hydraulics to not shift too much during aiming?"

Tommy, who ironically was well away from the conversation, chuckled. "You'd think it was one of their Gundams they were looking at," he said drolly.

"They do seem quite alike," Mirai noted. "Ken is a little older, but they both have a lot of the same interests and mannerisms."

"And they're both _way_ too high strung," Ashley added. A few of her fellow soldiers gave her a look, but she just shrugged. "What? Am I wrong?"

"Everyone deals with stress differently," Bright noted as he arrived in the hanger. "In any event, we have work to do. I want everyone on the bridge before 13:00." It was an odd contrast that the pilots of the 1st all gave a quick solute in response whereas the White Base crew just nodded. Both Tommy and Pat noted it and it only reinforced how out of place all these civilian kids were on the battlefield, no matter their combat record.

"I'll get them," Nicolas said, gesturing to Ken and Amuro as the rest of the group made for the elevator.

Right up to the moment Bright was ready to begin the briefing, Ken and Amuro were talking. By the time they were on the bridge and stopped to hear Bright and Marcan's briefing, they had moved on to the new enemy mobile suit that they had encountered in the last battle. Amuro had had the chance to study it and was trying to figure out its limits to take it down.

"We have some good news for a change," Bright announced to the sum of both Federation mobile suit teams. "Thanks to Major Marcan's resources, we've been able to locate where Ramba Ral's forces have set up. We should use this opportunity to go on the attack and end their pursuit of us."

"The problem will be getting into range to attack them without being noticed. They've got a Gallop-class ship that will give them warning of our approach," Marcan noted as a picture of the land battleship hovercraft appeared on screen.

"To maintain the element of surprise," Bright said as the image changed to a map of the area, "We're going to approach from multiple directions while dispersing Minovsky Particles to disguise our exact locations, as well as numbers." Arrows appeared on the map, all converging on an X where Ramba Ral's forces were. "We'll converge as the fighting starts. Our first target is the Gallop, then the mobile suits. If we can take out those, we'll cripple their ability to chase us. Any questions?" There were none and everyone got to work.

Ken was to swing in from the south as part of the decoy operation. With no radio or radar, he had to keep his eyes up and watch for enemies visually. The solitude was oppressive as he approached the hornets' nest. Twenty minutes out from the camp, a Zaku unexpectedly popped out from inside a sand dune and opened fire on Ken. His reflexes were sharp enough that he was able to dodge the missile fired at him, but then more Zakus showed themselves. Four in total opened fire on him. Somehow they knew he was coming!

Ken used his thrusters to dodge the attacks in midair, before landing and returning fire. He was only able to land a single rocket near the feet of one of the Zakus. Its legs were destroyed, but the unit didn't explode, allowing the pilot to escape. In the same breath the nearest Zaku closed with its heat hawk drawn and raised. Ken acted on instinct, dropping his rocket launcher and drawing his own melee weapon. Sliding his foot forward in the loose sand of the desert, Ken's Gundam G ducked the axe stroke and cleaved the offender in half with his beam saber. Without time to jump away, Ken could only put up his shield and take the explosion. His Gundam G didn't take any damage thanks to his quick reaction, but it was thrown off its feet and away from his primary weapon.

Another Zaku dashed in close with its deadly heat hawk. Ken rolled out of the way of the attack and got back to his feet. The instant he recovered, the Zaku had finished rounding on him for another attack. Ken was able to meet the attack with his beam saber. The two weapons held there for a moment. The Gundam G should have been stronger but the two blades just stalled. As the weapons were connected, a feeling washed over Ken. He couldn't tell what it was, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he had had it before.

Finally the two mobile suits took a step back for another, better stroke. The Zaku's axe lodged itself in Ken's shield, while Ken's beam saber found the Zaku's shoulder armor. One wrong twitch and one or both of them would go up in a fireball. Detaching his shield from the hard point on the Gundam G's arm, Ken shot forward and body slammed the enemy Zaku, taking off its feet.

Before Ken had the chance to do anything with the stalled Zaku, the fourth one lined up its now clear shot with its ally out of the way. Before the Zaku could open fire with its machine gun, Ken turned and peppered it with the vulcan cannon on his Gundam G's chest. The small caliber rounds did no appreciable damage to the Zaku's armor, but it did knock out its main camera, causing its first burst to miss wildly. Before it had a chance to get its bearings for a second shot, Ken closed with his beam saber. This Zaku was fast enough to jump away from the stroke, and Ken was forced to stop his pursuit as the other launched itself at him again. Ken sidestepped the Zaku's axe stroke, but his counter attack was also sidestepped. Again, both mobile suits' weapons clashed together again. And yet again, Ken got that feeling.

"Cowwen, back off. You're no good to me like that." It was the voice of one of the Zeon soldiers, intercepted by Ken. And now he remembered where he had heard that voice.

"You're the guy from New Yark!" Ken gasped. The two mobile suits separated and squared off for another attack.

"I was wondering how long it would take," the soldier said. "Perhaps I should take Lady Kycilia on her offer to have the supply corps paint my unit silver. That way you'll be able to find me sooner."

Ken was perplexed by that comment. Normally he was good about keeping a cool head, but all of that just sounded like the height of arrogance to him. "The hell does that mean?! And you still sound too damn calm. Shouldn't you be worried about dying?"

"Dying is an acceptable outcome," the soldier said, just as evenly as anything else he said, "I'm fighting for something more than the outcome of this petty war."

"That's an easy thing to say until you're looking death right in the face," Ken shot back. "Now, who are you? And how did you know my name back in New Yark?"

"You already know the answer to both of those questions." It was like everything this guy said just pissed Ken off more and more. But still, now that he thought about it, there was a name creeping in from the back of his head.

"G-Geki?"

"That's right." Now his anger was turning to confusion. He didn't know anyone named Geki, and certainly no Zeon soldiers. Had he heard it over the radio at some point? Before either the battle or the conversation could continue, the Gallop appeared over some far sand dunes. "You still aren't ready yet. But neither am I. You, Char, Amuro Ray, and myself. We will all meet again. Until then, farewell."

Again, an enemy soldier telling him "farewell" seemed condescending to him, but Ken didn't have a chance to express his displeasure as gunfire from the Gallop's main gun exploded all around him. Once the pillars of displaced sand fell back to the earth, the Zaku he had been fighting vanished.

There was no time to dwell on it. Another salvo from the Gallop was incoming. Ken dashed away from it and toward his discarded rocket launcher. In stopping to retrieve it allowed him to dodge a well led hail of shots and give him the time he needed to lock on and fire. High explosive shells smashed into the Gallop's hull and treads, bring it grinding to a halt. This gave Amuro and his Gundam time to catch up and get in range to blow the Gallop's main gun away with his beam rifle.

"This ship is lost," Hamon said solemnly, "all hands abandon ship."

"But, Lady Hamon-!"

"This thing can be replaced," Hamon told the soldier, "the lives within it cannot be."

The crew of the Gallop started their retreat unseen as Ken and Amuro pummeled the ship's auto-pilot into submission. The White Base and the 1st had finally put Ramba Ral on the run, but the Zeon ace was far from finished with them. Many of the mobile suits were able to disengage and regroup. Tomorrow would be a hard day. And as the sun set, Amuro and Ken's thoughts mirrored each other once again; "I _need_ to fight that guy…"

* * *

><p>This may not be my best work ever, but I like it. I think I did a good job with the fighting and still got more about the characters out. Now watch as I continue to procrastinate even though the next chapter of this story is the hugely important final fight with Ramba Ral that I really should work ahead on!<p> 


	23. Engagement 23: War for Two

Wow, it's almost like I'm psychic. (Or should that be psychotic? Who knows?!) Yes, I'm stupidly starting this late. Though to be fair, in this case, I had a little computer trouble that prevented me from doing anything for the three days I wanted to spend working on this. So in the hopes that I can still do this in the time I have left, let's get to it.

* * *

><p>After destroying the Gallop and Ramba Ral's camp, the Zeon's attack was stalled for a few hours. Unfortunately, it was clear from the Minovsky Particle density in the area that Ral was still ready to fight. It even looked like he was getting reinforcements in the form of a few nearby Zakus in the area. It wouldn't be long before he'd be on the attack once again.<p>

The White Base was a fast ship, so they made all speed toward allies getting ready for the operation against the Zeon strongholds in Eurasia. With luck, the White Base could outrun the enemy since they now lacked a transport. It was wishful thinking and everyone knew it, but it was still worth a try. To prevent enemy units from stopping them by lying in wait ahead of them, teams of two were to be sent out to clear the path ahead.

Kai, the gray-haired kid and Ken in the Guncannon and Gundam G respectively were sent out first and made contact almost immediately with enemy mobile suits. With the Gundam G's rockets and the mortar fire from the Guncannon's shoulder mounted weapons, the Zakus were unable to mount any kind of coordinated attack. They were left to return fire as best they could from behind whatever cover they could find. This amounted largely to sand dunes, but the dense material held out.

"Looks like we're the only ones out here to fight…" It sounded more like Kai was telling a joke rather than complaining from the tone of his voice.

"We're already launching more mobile suits," Sayla said from the command and control station on the White Base. Even if her punishment hadn't ended by then, she probably would have been let out to get back to the station she usually occupied during such an important battle. "You should have more faith in us," she added, clearly not a fan of Kai's sense of humor.

"You always know just what to say to make me feel better, Sayla," Kai replied in the same tone as before. Apparently he didn't take the hint. This guy really was a lot like Holdarin… While he and Ken were pinning down the first group of mobile suits, three came in and flanked the Guncannon. Kai was too slow to react and was surrounded by the group. It didn't matter what kind of armor the Guncannon had, nothing could take a pummeling from three Zakus.

Ken stored his rocket launcher on the rack on Gundam G's back and dashed toward Kai. With his beam saber, he was able to bring down one Zaku before it had the chance to bring its heat hawk down on the Guncannon's head. With the momentary reprieve, Kai was able to kick down another of the ambushers and blast it away with his cannons. Ken was able to cut the third down as well, all in the space of a few seconds. With no time to get out of the way, the two Federation mobile suits could only stand there and weather the explosions of their defeated foes. Both had strong armor and were only briefly stunned.

The enemy that Ken and Kai had pinned had taken the lapse in fire to get closer, but the 1st and the other White Base mobile suits had arrived. For a moment it looked like the Zakus were outnumbered for the first time, but more Zakus revealed themselves and attacked. It was an impressive sight as the two groups fired their opening volleys and engaged. It was the first time two full units of mobile suits had engaged each other on even terms outside of Zeon training missions. Less than two dozen individual machines were involved in the battle, but it looked like two full armies engaging in the middle of the desert.

Two or three of the Zakus tried to stay on the outskirts of the battle, firing Megella Top cannons to support their allies. They just made easy targets for the White Base's guns. The battle looked dead even but the Federation was slowly whittling down the Zakus and taking them out one by one. It would be a stretch to say that the battle was taking a positive turn just yet, but things were headed in that direction. Just then, the hair on the back of Ken's neck stood up.

"He's here somewhere…"

Another Zaku and Ramba Ral's suit streaked toward the battle. Amuro and Ken blasted away from the battle to intercept them. Both sides were happy to let this two on two duel happen. Gundam and Ramba Ral's "Gouf" clashed blades as Ken and the Zaku met sword against axe. The instant Ken's and the Zaku's attacks met, Ken got that feeling again. This was definitely that "Geki". Ken fired his chest mounted vulcan to force the Zaku back and stepped inside the Gouf's stance. With the Gouf's balance compromised, Amuro was able to shove the Gouf over with his Gundam's shield. Ramba Ral recovered quickly and Geki was able to stay ahead of Ken's rocket fire after he switched back to his main weapon.

"Color me impressed," Ramba Ral said as he got back into the fight. "Those two use those mobile suits as if they were their own bodies."

"I told you not to underestimate them, Ramba," Geki mentioned as he dodged another rocket.

With Ken focused on Geki, Ramba Ral decided he made a better target than the sidestepping White Devil. Using the machine guns hidden in the Gouf's fingers, he forced Amuro to dodge away from Ken. Ken sensed the attack coming, but he was too focused on Geki to dodge in time. The whip weapon the Gouf had used wrapped around Gundam G's arm and the whole suit crackled with electricity. The attack even reached inside the cockpit, causing Ken to convulse in pain.

It didn't last long as Gundam dashed in between them, slicing the whip apart and ending the transfer of electricity. Ken recovered just in time to see Geki's heat hawk. The blade came down on his rocket launcher, almost cutting it in half too. Ken let go of the weapon and used the reprieve to swing a full body punch at Geki's Zaku. The hit landed right on the Zaku's head, warping the armor and doing minor damage to the main camera. Geki landed a bit away sprawled out on the ground after the attack.

Ramba Ral had turned his attention back to Amuro and Gundam. Ken used this opportunity to pay the Zeon ace back for his sneak attack. Ken drew his beam saber and cut a slash into the arm of the Gouf. It stalled, giving Amuro a chance to bury his own beam saber in the head of the unit clean through the main camera of the unit. "Well done, boys," Ramba Ral said over an open channel, "But don't get too cocky. You only won because of those extraordinary mobile suits, not just your own skills."

"You're just a sore loser!" Amuro snapped back, ready to finish off the Gouf. He didn't get the chance as Geki burst back into the fight, body slamming Gundam away from the Gouf and knocking the beam saber and shield out of his hands. With the massive amount of damage done to his Gouf, Ramba Ral did the only thing he could; set it to self-destruct and get out.

The main battle was winding down about a half mile away. Both sides had bloodied each other, but the Federation had yet to lose anyone while the Zeons had lost four mobile suits already. With the battle clearly in the Federation's favor, the Zakus began their retreat and the White Base broadcast its recall signal.

Ken and Geki didn't show any signs that they were ready to end the battle however. Something in both of them was ignited by the fighting and they were blind to everything but each other. Geki tried to hold Ken at a distance with his machine gun, but Ken was able to close and cut it apart with his beam saber. Ken took another stroke at the Zaku's head, but Geki ducked it and bashed the Gundam G's head with the remnants of his gun. Gundam G barely staggered and swung again, catching the Zaku's heat hawk stroke. Both of them got recall orders and both of them ignored them. Ken slipped his beam saber under the heat hawk blade and pulled it out of the Zaku's hand. Geki reacted almost before it happened, punching Gundam G where he had hit it with the remains of his machine gun. Gundam G lost its grip on its beam saber and both weapons went flying away from them. Still, they readied to continue.

Suddenly the voices of their respective superiors finally broke through to them. "Captain! Fall back now! That's an order!" The world came rushing back to Ken as he noticed that Geki had stopped in his tracks too. Tentatively, the two mobile suits backed off from each other and returned to their allies.

With the last of their allied mobile suits returning to the White Base, Marcan and Bright relaxed. Bright turned to Marcan, who looked uncharacteristically flustered after her outburst at Ken. "That isn't a common problem with Captain Etto, is it?" Bright asked.

"No… I've never seen him like that before…"

With Ramba Ral's mobile suit finally defeated, his threat was massively reduced. He might launch more attacks on White Base, but there wasn't much more he could actually do. The Gundam, Guntank, Guncannon, and the 1st's mobile suits had taken notable damage, so the 1st provided the spare parts the White Base crew didn't have. With both teams of mechanics working on it, all eight mobile suits were in top form in just a few hours. As much as the two groups wanted to stick together the 1st had to move on some time and now was as good a time as any.

Soon after parting ways with the White Base, the 1st got a message from none other than Matilda. "When I heard General Revil was sending you new equipment to test I asked if I could get it to you myself. But my Media's having engine trouble. My coordinates are…"

* * *

><p>I like this one. There are a couple places I may want to touch up, but the bulk of it feels well paced to me. I'm not even a third of the way through this story yet, but I feel like I'm really starting to get it rolling. I have a lot of the later stuff really planned out and I'm starting to feel like I'm getting to the point where I can justify my lofty aspirations for it. Well, we shall see. 'Till then.<p> 


	24. Engagement 24: New Weapon

I did it again. I'm going to try to knock out as much of this chapter before I go to bed so I don't have a time crunch tomorrow, but we'll see how far I get. For all the intensity, this should be a bit calmer, though it should still be at least a little interesting. Hoping to get some character bits out at the end of this, so that should be good. To the battlefield!

* * *

><p>The 1st took a transport plane to get to Matilda's coordinates as quickly as possible. Her Media was down in a mountain region to the North West and they made all haste to get there before the Zeons found the downed aircraft. There was little doubt that the Zeons knew at the very least that there was a Media transport in the area, though how much they knew was unclear.<p>

Matilda failed to mention the cargo she was carrying in the transition. The only thing she mentioned was that it was vital and meant for the 1st. If they wanted to know the contents of the plane's cargo hold, they'd have to get there and see it for themselves.

Once they got in range, Ken and the others boarded their mobile suits and set out to meet up with the immobile Media. Between enemy mobile suit activity in the area and the masking tactics Matilda was using to hide, the Minovsky Particle density was shockingly high in the area. Every radar and radio signal in the area was severely compromised and the search was limited to visual range. Of course it didn't take that long to find the big yellow plane against the snowy peaks thanks to the coordinates Matilda gave. With the Media located, the 1st spread out to form a perimeter around the allied aircraft.

Ken and Ashley approached it as the others covered a wider area, searching for enemy threats. There was definitely a Zeon presence in the area and there would no doubt be gunfire before this mission was over. Gundam G and Ashley's GM G had to nearly stand directly next to the Media to hear Matilda's transmissions.

"You made it!" her voice barely came through over all the static and distortions. "It's hard to tell, but I think the Zeons are on to us! We may be seeing some action soon!"

"What happened to your engine?" Ken asked as he kept his eyes up and scanning for approaching mobile suits.

"What?" Matilda called back over the static.

"Can you fix it?!"

"Oh, yeah!" she replied, "It's just that we had one of the motors quit on us! Between that and a fuel leak and we had to make an emergency landing to fix it! I guess in times like these even the supply corps can have a supply problem!"

That wasn't exactly a comforting thought, even if it sounded like she was half joking. Though it was hard to hear the tone with all the interference. The Minovsky Particles in the outlying area were starting to converge. Maybe it was because the 1st arrived, or maybe a passing Zeon satellite caught a glimpse of the Federation machines. Regardless, it was a pretty safe bet that the enemy was on the way.

"How long until you're ready to take off?" Ken had to repeat the question three times before the transition actually got through.

"Oh, uhh, about two minutes!" Matilda answered back, "It won't take much longer than that, but you have to hold them off at least that long!"

Ken was about to brave the static and hazard a response when she heard Ashley's GM G open fire on something with her machine gun. Ken glanced at her mobile suit and saw it was looking and firing almost straight up. Ken glanced up as well and saw a gigantic flight of Zeon Dopp fighters. The Federation didn't have the air dominance it usually had in the area since that part of Eurasia was near the heart of Zeon's terrestrial mining operations.

Ken raised his own weapon as well, firing off several shots. The formation was big enough that it was actually pretty hard to miss. The explosions from Ken's rockets and the bullets from Ashley's gun picked off almost a dozen of the little aircraft. Still, there were many more and now they had more room to maneuver. They took evasive action and fired off their missiles, but the Minovsky Particle density was far too high for a lock on. Some of the missiles were well aimed and hit the ground close to the Federation machines, but none made a direct or even partial impact.

The two Federation mobile suits continued to fire, and even the Media's anti-aircraft gunner joined in. The heavy fire further scattered the Dopps, most breaking off and heading away from the battle. The few that stayed got picked off one by one.

"Don't think we're helpless down here," she growled at the retreating fighters. She thought for a moment as she looked over her plane's latest diagnostics. _Still, it's amazing what those mobile suits did to that formation… One mobile suit is like an entire army's worth of tanks or planes._

Seconds passed, but the next wave of the Zeon attack was already on its way. Two Zakus managed to slip past Tommy and the others and approach the Media. One fired its bazooka straight at Ken could have easily dodged, but he was the only thing between the incoming shell and the Media. Putting up his shield, Ken braced his mobile suit for the impact. Thanks to the buckler, nearly all of the damage was averted.

"Ken! Are you alright?!" Matilda called over the radio. All she got was static in return, but Gundam G seemed fine, so she could only assume the pilot was as well.

Ashley was able to pick off the Zaku next to the one that had fired with a burst from her machine gun. The second one backed up a little and she moved to pursue it. Ken was about to do the same, but he caught a glimpse of movement among some crags behind them. Ken turned and took aim. It was a Zaku, waiting to ambush the Media after the other two had drawn the mobile suits away.

Upon being spotted, the Zaku burst out from its hiding place. Ken fired, but it was just quick enough to jump over the shot, causing the shell to impact on the cliff face and explode harmlessly there. The Zaku tried to get close to the Media. If it got within arm's reach of the transport, Ken would have to risk friendly fire to attack the Zaku. He moved in between the green robot and brandished his beam saber. The Zaku tried to dodge around Ken, but almost as if reading his opponent's mind, Ken predicted the Zaku's path and cut it in half at the waist.

Meanwhile, the other Zaku stumbled into Pat's GM G as it tried to escape Ashley's unit. Pat was able to take its head off with a burst of machine gun fire. The pilot activated the self-destruct rather than choosing to surrender.

More Zakus appeared in the distance, but finally the Media's engines roared to life. The Media lifted off the snowy ground and headed in the direction of Federation territory. The mobile suits followed and escorted the Media to the nearest allied base. It wasn't that big, but the Zakus gave up all the same. They likely thought a single supply plane wasn't worth it.

Ken and the others dismounted from their mobile suits and met with Matilda, who was about to open the cargo hatch on her plane to make sure its contents were undamaged. When she saw Ken approach, she gave him a scowl. "Why did you take that shot during the battle, Ken? You could have been killed. It's not like you to be so careless!"

"That wasn't carelessness," Ken assured, "I knew Gundam G's armor could take that hit with the shield in the way."

"Well it wasn't very careful, even if it wasn't careless," Matilda returned. She sighed, letting the anger melt away into her more often seen smile. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. Everything turned out well in the end."

"Lt. Matilda?" Nicolas spoke up, "You said in your transition that you were carrying supplies for the 1st. Is that true?"

"Indeed it is," she said, nodding to one of her crewmates on the Media. He opened the door to the cargo hold to reveal its contents. The first thing anyone noticed was the Guncannon sitting in the front. "This Guncannon was put together for you since one of you did so well with it in its combat trials." The next thing to be seen was a massive assortment of parts and equipment, as well as a beam rifle stored on a rack on the plane's wall. "We also have a new weapon for the Gundam G. This beam rifle isn't quite as powerful as the one made for the other Gundam, but it's still more than enough for any Zaku. We also have the items you put in the request for, Ken."

"You put in a request for mobile suit parts?" Tommy asked his fellow pilot.

"The modifications I made to your GM G weren't final," Ken explained, "This should allow better control over your mobile suit."

"I see."

"We've also got some experimental equipment the guys at Jaburo want you to try out," Matilda added.

"That did look like a little more than I asked for…" Ken noted, mostly to himself.

"It's enough for one of the other GM G," Matilda explained, "I should improve the unit's mobility."

"You should take it for your unit, Ashley," Nicolas deferred, "I'm fine with my GM G the way it is."

"Are you saying I need the help, wise guy?" Ashley said, raising an eyebrow.

"N-no! I didn't mean it like-"

Ashley's laugh cut him off, "I was just kidding! I appreciate the gesture." Ashley continued to laugh at Nicolas's assurances that he wasn't questioning her piloting skills as they started to remove the Guncannon from Matilda's Media. Once it was out, another mobile suit was revealed, sitting in the back of the transport. "W-wait…" Ashley said, her laughter ending abruptly, "Isn't that Amuro's Gundam?!"

* * *

><p>I think this is okay. I tried to cut down the number of mobile suits and use other weapons since mobile suits are supposed to be rare at this point in the war. The game had you fighting almost nothing but mobile suits, so it's hard to cut back on it if I want to use things I did in the game. I also decided to pace this and the next chapter a little differently than I usually do. I think it'll be for the better, but I'll have to see when I continue writing. (Hopefully that <strong>won't<strong> be next Friday…)


	25. Engagement 25: Another Gundam

So it's Friday. Again. Why? Why do I do this to myself? Well, it can't be helped. This shouldn't be too hard for me to get through. Nothing to do but to get it done.

* * *

><p>The white, humanoid machine sat there in a silent vigil. It was as if it was waiting for something. Once Ashley had pointed out the RX-78 Gundam sitting in the back of the Media cargo plane, it became the undivided center of attention.<p>

"Oh, that?" Matilda said, almost sadly. "That was originally meant for you too, but it's not working properly."

"What's wrong with it?" Marcan asked as the rest of the cargo was unloaded and transferred to the hanger holding the rest of the 1st's equipment.

"There's a problem with the Core Block system," Matilda explained, "It seems they were so eager to get it shipped out, they didn't do the proper system checks on it. The legs don't work at all, even when attached to the body."

"Core Block system, ma'am?" Nicolas asked.

"All of the V Project mobile suits have it," Pat explained as he watched his new Guncannon was trucked away, "The Gundam, Guncannon, and Guntank are all separated into three distinct blocks. The upper body and legs combine with a fighter plane called a Core Fighter. The Core Fighter folds up to be the cockpit."

"You've done your research, Pat," Matilda complimented.

"Of course."

"So what's wrong with it?" Ken asked, looking over the curled up mobile suit.

Matilda sighed, "What _isn't_ wrong with it is a better question. Unfortunately, it's so far gone that we'll have to send it back to space when we get the chance."

"I don't suppose you could fix it?" Tommy asked Ken.

"I don't know enough about it. It'd be better if people who know what they're doing fix it than to have me tinker with it."

"That's true. Pity."

"What about the aircraft?" Ashley asked, noting the large jet that was housed between the two mobile suits.

"That's the G-Fighter," Matilda explained. "This one is actually meant for the White Base, but it's still under development, and was set for its first field test tomorrow morning."

"It looks big enough for a mobile suit to ride on…" Nicolas mentioned. Indeed, the white and blue jet took up nearly as much space in the Media transport plane's cargo bay as the mobile suits it had been carrying. The front of the craft looked like a fairly standard fighter, but it transitioned into a massive set of wings and equally impressive engines. Due to the added length of the wings and engines, the unit had quite an impressive profile.

"I don't suppose they're looking for someone to be the test pilot," Ashley half asked.

"You'd have to ask the base commander," Matilda replied. She watched as the G-Fighter was rolled out of her cargo bay. "Well, as much as I'd like to shoot the breeze, I've got to get going on my next delivery." The 1st bid Matilda farewell and she made her way to the cockpit of her plane to take off.

The sun had already sunk under the peeks around the small forward base, so the 1st found an empty barracks and turned in for the night. The next morning, Ashley found the base commander as Matilda suggested and asked about the G-Fighter test. The pilot that had been originally assigned happened to be there too, one Sleggar Law. He wasn't happy that someone was clearly asking to take his place, but his tune suddenly changed when he turned to face Ashley. He offered to defer the mission to her in return for only her name. Ashley gave it, playing innocent to his flirtatious behavior. Sleggar seemed to get the hint and gave her his blessing to take the G-Fighter on its first combat mission.

The mission was a simple one; a sweep of the outlying area. The Federation knew there were Zakus in the area and they wanted to see of their new G-Fighter was powerful enough to take on Zeon mobile suits.

"This will be the first time I'll be setting foot inside of a fighter cockpit since I joined the 1st," Ashley noted as she and the other pilots headed to the hanger.

"We'll be there to back you up if anything goes wrong," Ken assured.

Ashley laughed, "No, you don't get it. This is my element! You'll get to see what I can really do. And my GM G will have finished its upgrades by the time we get back. I'm on top of the world!"

It was on that happy note that the 1st set out from the base. In the swift G-Fighter, Ashley was making passes over the Zeon controlled territory well before the mobile suits caught up. Tommy and Pat set themselves up at the edge of the mountain range. With Tommy's customized GM and Pat's new Guncannon specialized for long range combat, they set up to play to their strengths. Ken's Gundam G and Nicolas's GM G moved into the mostly baron valley. Clearly this area had been the sight of skirmishes between the Federation and Zeon mobile suits with all of the destruction in the area.

Deciding to follow the Minovsky Particles, Ashley scouted ahead and found a small group of Zakus milling about in an old ruined field. Taking the initiative, Ashley locked on with the G-Fighters missile tubes and opened fire. The weapons tracked fine for the first mile or two, but as they approached, the Minovsky Particles given off passively by the Zakus scrambled the missiles' electronics and they impacted the ground.

Moving into range to use the G-Fighter's twin beam cannons, Ashley swooped down at the about five Zakus. The Zakus fired back with a wave of bazooka and machine gun fire, but the nimble fighter dodged the attacks easily. Concentrating more on evading the incoming attacks than landing accurate shots, Ashley's beam cannon shots only impacted the ground. Still the attacks caused noticeable damage to the Zakus' legs as the shots impacted the ground in impressive explosions.

Ashley pulled out of her dive as Ken and Nicolas got within range of the fight. The Zakus didn't seem like they were looking for a fight and started to back off as the Gundam G and GM G approached.

"Captain! Zanzibar! Entering the atmosphere at 350!" Ken and Nicolas looked up to see the hulking, solid brown ship descending below the overcast. The beetle-like space assault cruiser was one of the most impressive Zeon weapons, able to go toe to toe with Federation Salamis cruisers and even Magellan battleships.

Noticing the Federation units in the area, the Zanzibar opened fire, firing its twin-barreled turret at Ashley's G-Fighter and firing missiles at Ken and Nicolas on the ground below. Pat and Tommy opened fire on the ship from their safe vantage points, but the Zanzibar's helmsman noticed the incoming shots and dodged them. Ken fired his new beam rifle along with Nicolas's machine gun, but their shot fell short. Ashley tried to get a few shots off, and landed a missile shot as well as two double beam cannon shots on the hull before being turned back by the ship's heavy fire.

The Zanzibar shuttered hard from the hard blows, but stayed firm. "I'm winchester on missiles and I've only got a few shots with the beam cannon left!"

"We have to take that ship out!" Ken snarled as he watched the giant set up another attack run. "Ashley, I think we may have to try out Nicolas's idea."

"My idea?" the GM G pilot asked. A second later he understood, "You don't mean…"

"Are you sure, Captain?" Ashley asked, descending all the same.

"Not if you aren't."

There was a pregnant pause before Ashley spoke up again, "No, I am. Switching to VTOL." The G-Fighter slowed to a hover next to the two mobile suits. As soon as the jet's forward motion had stopped, Ken coaxed his Gundam G onto the aircraft's wide wings. The fighter shifted for a moment before stabilizing again. "Reengaging!" The G-Fighter started back up toward the sky and after the Zanzibar. The large ship was turning and the bridge didn't have a view of the fighter and mobile suit until it was too late. The instant they were in range, Ashley and Ken opened fire with their beam weapons. A few shots hit the section of the hull that Ashley had hit before, ripping it open and causing the ship to spiral into the ground.

Gundam G got off the G-Fighter right afterword, not wanting to risk either unit, and the 1st returned to base. Unsurprisingly, they were met by Sleggar when they dismounted their machines.

"So how's it handle?" the fellow pilot asked.

"Well, I'd prefer my Saberfish, frankly," Ashley admitted, "Or my GM G for that matter. But I'd say it's a pretty good compromise of speed and firepower."

Sleggar was about to say something, but Marcan arrived in the hanger, "We have another assignment. And apparently it's in preparation for 'Operation Odessa'."

"So Odessa really was the target…" Ken noted out loud.

Sleggar whistled as he headed toward the parked G-Fighter, "You guys are attacking Odessa? Heh. Good luck with that. I think I'll stick with putting this little birdy through her paces."

"Be careful now, Lt. Sleggar," Ashley called back with a cheeky smile, "There might be another _Zanzibar_ roaming around…" With that she and the other pilots quickly left.

Sleggar gave an impressed whistle as he set about to rearm the G-Fighter. "Those kids took on a Zanzibar? Heh, what's next I ask you?"

* * *

><p>This kind of mutated a bit. I was originally going to have the other Gundam flying around on the G-Fighter the whole time like in the game but I decided against. Well, of to post before I'm late…<p> 


	26. Engagement 26: Naval Warfare

I may have screwed up the order of my scheduling and written three Dragon Knight chapters in a row. I don't really care _that_ much, but it does mean I'm not a hundred percent sure what I'm going to be doing with myself for the next little while. I'm definitely going to be getting those chapters out, but pacing might be a little weird. My hope is that I get off my lazy butt and write several ahead, but that's no guarantee. In the meantime, I've got more Alternate Gundam to get out and more globetrotting for the 1st to do. For now I can leave the in game missions relatively untouched, but I may play with where the 1st goes geographically (not that anyone cares, the game is ancient and I'm probably the only one who still knows it exists!).

* * *

><p>The battle soon to take place at the Odessa mining facility in Eastern Europe was by far the largest operation the Federation had set about to undertake in the war thus far. Odessa, being the crux of all of Zeon's terrestrial mining operations, was overflowing with weapons. This included mobile suits of course. Needless to say, the 1st would be involved in the attack on the base itself, but for the time being, they were needed for prep work in and around Europe.<p>

Due to their proximity to the operation area, the 1st was sent to the Caspian Sea where there was talk of enemy activity. Some of the allied forces selected to participate in Operation Odessa were moving into Europe by sea. Many of them noticed suspiciously high levels of Minovsky Particles as they passed through disputed waters, and worse, some lone ships had been lost at sea with no explanation. There was some talk of Zeon mini subs, but that was quickly dismissed.

With their proximity, the 1st as asked to escort a supply convoy bringing more ammunition and food to frontline bases crossing the area. Given the independent nature of the unit, whether the 1st's job was to guard the convoy or to investigate the area was left up to them. Marcan told the pilots she had her own opinion on the priority of both directives, but she wanted input from them before she gave any orders.

"I would think the top priority for us would be to protect our allies," Nicolas mentioned, "After all, why would they call on us if they didn't want our help?"

Marcan contemplated that for a moment, but then Ken spoke up, "We can easily do both.

"Explain," Marcan insisted.

"We'll have to be patrolling the area in our mobile suits no matter what mission goal we pick to emphasize. If we keep Tommy's Sniper GM G, Pat's Guncannon, and Nicolas's GM G on the carrier, my Gundam G and Ashley's High Performance GM G can watch out for enemies in the ocean. The particular area we're going through isn't too deep. Our mobile suits can investigate the area as we protect our allies from ambush."

Marcan nodded, "I see. Very well, I approve. Prep your mobile suits for another extended operation. And remember, beam weapons will not be effective underwater. So equip yourselves with conventional armaments."

"Aww," Ashley whined, "I like my ray gun. It makes me feel futuristic."

"The beam sabers will have limited use as well. If we encounter the enemy, don't let them get close to you," Ken reminded the group.

Ashley sighed, her antics having been ignored, "Right, no close combat…"

The 1st rendezvoused with the supply fleet after a few hours and got to work. Ken and Ashley established a perimeter around the fleet while Pat and Tommy scanned for long range threats. Finally, Nicolas watched over those two lest anything slip in close to the group. Just where the reports had said, there was a sudden spike in Minovsky Particles as they approached the suspicious area. From underwater, Ken and Ashley could see the source of the anomaly. It wasn't mini subs, but mobile suits. These weren't Zakus however, or even Goufs. They were a new model of mobile suit, and they appeared specialized for navel and amphibious warfare. The units were very big, the body and head shaped like a bulb with thick legs and powerful arms. Each hand bore massive yellow claws and the whole thing was painted a teal color to blend in with the ocean water. Even with the color it was hard to miss.

The mobile suit noticed them right away and turned toward them. Four red spikes on the mobile suit's chest started to glow and fired beams at Ken's Gundam G. He pulled his Gundam G out of the way with time to spare, but he was still close enough to be awed by the power of the attack. "An amphibious mobile suit that uses beam weapons as its primary armament? What kind of output must that thing have to allow that?" He glanced over at his side monitor. In the distance were a dozen hulls pushing their way through the waves. "If this thing gets even one shot off at them the supply fleet's finished!"

There was a delay between the firing of the new model's shots, but something about the situation gave him an overwhelming sense of dread. He moved on instinct, leaping over some nonexistent attack. The Gundam G jumped slower in the water due to the resistance. As his mobile suit ascended through the water, he noticed a quartet of beam cannon shots pass just barely below the Gundam G's feet. Ken's eyes tracked the beams back to the thing that fired them.

"There's another one on that shelf!" Ken called out to his ally.

"Understood. I have this one under control," Ashley returned as she swiftly approached the nearer one. It was her first time in combat with the new enhancements and she was taking to them well. The enemy unit couldn't get a clean shot at the fast moving target. And in spite of the warning about staying at a distance, Ashley closed. The size of the enemy meant it had to have tough armor. Without the power of a beam rifle, she had to get close and pummel it with her machine gun for all it was worth. And while those claws clearly weren't just a decoration, it was too bulky to specialize in melee combat.

As she got closer, she opened up with the machine gun. Bullets pummeled the hulk, but it did little damage. Ashley landed in front of the thing, taking careful aim and shooting out the main camera. It took a swing at her with its claws, but Ashley and her High Mobility GM G was far too quick. With its camera damaged, the enemy mobile suit picked itself up and started to speed away. Its odd shape made it streamlined, so it moved like a submarine through the water. That, Ashley decided, was where the rumors of mini subs came from. Even with the improved thrust, her GM G couldn't keep up with the mobile suit turned sub and it started to pull away. She fired one last long burst that caught it in the bottom of the foot. It looked like one of the engines blew out, but it kept on pulling away into the murk until she lost sight of it.

Ken meanwhile, was dealing with a much more aggressive opponent. The rate of fire of the beam cannons on the new enemy model wasn't fantastic, but it was enough to keep Ken on his toes with his mobile suit's slowed reaction time. He had to react to the attacks before they even came, and he was. Once he got close he dodged above the enemy to get a good shot at it, but something about where he was felt wrong. He changed direction and then noticed another red spike on the enemy unit's head. As he got out of the way, it glowed and fired off another beam. Had he stayed where he was, the blast would have skewered him.

With all of the beam cannons preparing another shot, Ken had a safe shot with his rocket launcher. The blast kicked up a huge cloud of dust that obscured the target. Suddenly a deadly yellow claw shot out of the dust and grabbed onto something metal. To the Zeon pilot's disappointment and confusion, it was only the rocket launcher. Suddenly the Zeon mobile suit shuddered. The dust settled to reveal the Gundam G pulling on the extended arm of the new mobile suit. By bracing its foot against its enemy's side, Ken's mobile suit tore the arm clean off the enemy, sending it crashing into the sea floor.

By the time the Zeon pilot shook the stars out of his eyes, he saw only the Gundam G, pointing its rocket launcher, that it had retrieved from the separated arm, right at him. "I surrender! Please spare me White Devil!"

Ken accepted the surrender and sent the signal to Marcan and the fleet. But privately he wondered about the Zeon's "White Devil" comment. That was what the Zeons called Amuro and the Gundam. He dismissed it as some of the escort ships arrived to pick up the captured mobile suit and soldier. The Gundam G and Gundam looked enough alike that the soldier must have just mistaken the two. That had to be it…

* * *

><p>Meh. Not my best, but I'm okay with it. I actually got someone to read this who I know and can talk to face to face about it, so I know what some of the core problems with it are. With that in mind, a lot of these have been really first drafty with that in mind. I'm not setting about to fix the problems that have been mentioned to me because they're second draft sort of things. That's not to say I'm <em>trying<em> to phone these in or anything, it's just that I know a big way that I can improve this story and I want to get this structure down so I can get to doing that.

I don't think I did anything too important in this chapter, but I am starting to further set up some stuff in the future, so that's good. I hope my characters are coming across well enough at least. This is probably going to expand the most when I get back around to it, but I want there to be at least something of merit here on the first draft.

Gundam geek side note (that have some mild spoilers of you don't know MSG): I'm aware that there was only one Zock created during the One Year War according to official sources, but again, I'm going by the game with this story. And you fight a lot of those stupid things in the game. They're pretty fun to play as though. I'm trying my best not to oversaturate the battlefield with mobile suits since there weren't really any serious mobile suit battles going on until the Battle of Jaburo, but the game is all mobile suit combat because, let's face it, that's what you buy a Gundam game for.


	27. Engagement 27: Prelude to Odessa

Starting another one late despite my need to fix the mess up in my schedule. I've decided to break with the geography of the game, not that anybody cares. There were only a few maps the game had programed in, so I might as well use a little creative license to make it a bit more logical. With that, let's continue.

* * *

><p>The fleet arrived at its resupply destination unharmed and with some additional cargo. The Zeon pilot was pretty tight-lipped about what had been going on, but the data banks in his mobile suit were much more helpful. Apparently the mobile gun battery of a mobile suit called the "Zock" they captured was the latest in a line of aquatic mobile suits being developed by the Zeon ground forces.<p>

"Why would they need so much naval power?" Tommy wondered out loud.

"It's possible they found the hidden entrance to Jaburo," Ken noted as he looked over the plans to the various amphibious mobile suits, "The Amazon River is deep enough that designs like this could be really dangerous against the mass production GM."

"I don't think they've found the exact location of the base yet," Nicolas said, "If they had, they would have probably been attacking by now. They may be closing in on it, though. If they know the general area, they'd still want some amphibious mobile suits to scout and secure the area."

Ken pulled up one plan in particular, "In any event, this one worries me." The others looked over the impressive unit, the "Z'Gok". "If these specifications are right, it could even be a match for my Gundam G in the middle of the desert. They're so far ahead of us when it comes to mobile suit technology."

"At least we have Amuro's Gundam," Ashley noted, mostly to herself.

"This may put a damper on the Federation's Odessa invasion plans," Pat said, finally speaking up. "If we're going to try to take Odessa, we'd better do it right now."

"And that's why all of us are here in Greece." The pilots turned to Marcan as she entered the room. "We have our next mission objective, a Zeon controlled mass driver not too far from this location. They've been using it as one of the supply lines to get the natural resources they mine here on earth back up to space. There are also reports of mobile suits in a derelict colony in orbit over the Odessa area. GHQ is concerned that they may be drop forces and wants them whipped out if possible. Our mission is to capture the mass driver and send some of our force up into space to clear out the colony."

"It'll be really hard to capture that mass driver without damaging it with what we have," Tommy noted, "I figure the Zeons have to have a pretty substantial force guarding it, right?"

"They do," Marcan nodded, "And with that in mind, we are going to be backed up by a portion of the Odessa Strike Force. As a matter of fact, they're the group we just resupplied. This is going to be a major battle. We'll need to be ready for it."

Marcan left the pilots to plan out their strategy after calling up a map of the operational area and the data on the two forces. "It looks like a pretty even fight," Tommy said, noting the huge tank battalions on either side. "It's still going to be hard not to destroy that mass driver, though. It's right in the middle of that town."

"There aren't still civilians in the town, are there?" Ashley asked.

"Not very many," Ken noted, "They should be able to get out of the way by the time the fighting starts."

"So than how do we take the mass driver?" Nicolas asked.

Ken thought for a moment, "The Zeons are still used to winning battles with their mobile suit advantage. They shouldn't fire on their own mass driver if they think they can win and hold it."

"We're going to use it as cover?" Tommy asked.

"Nicolas, Ashley, and I will," Ken said, "Pat, you'll be protecting the ground armor behind us as they advance into the town while the three of us draw their fire. We'll push them out block by block as the tanks advance."

"And I'm guessing you want me in the back, covering the operation?" Tommy asked.

"That's right."

"It amazes me how quickly you can do that, Captain," Nicolas complimented as the pilots left the room to suit up for the mission.

The tank battalion was more than happy to go along with the plan. Someone drawing the mobile suit fire away from them was all they needed to hear. The unit had taken a few halfhearted stabs at hitting the town, but the Zakus stationed there. They weren't subtle as they advanced toward the town. The battle started with a salvo of potshots from both sides at their opposite numbers. The Zeon forces had the advantage of using the buildings of the town for cover, but they focused most of their fire on the three mobile suits approaching quicker than the rest, and Ken, Ashley, and Nicolas had more than enough room to evade the attacks.

The Zeons were shoved back from the threshold of the town as the sides of the buildings started to collapse. Ken, Ashley, and Nicolas entered the town and took cover as the close fighting began. The three of them split up to divide the enemy forces among them, but they also stayed within visual range to back each other up. The plan was working so far. The Zeons were falling back and soon they'd get to the mass driver. The Zakus were the biggest trouble in moving forward. The tanks weren't helpless by any means, but the beam carbines that they had taken took out small targets like that in one shot.

Finally the mass driver came in sight. It was a prewar one, but it was still more than sturdy enough to transport the raw materials the Zeons mined from the area with the reinforcements they added. Ken and Ashley, with their higher performance mobile suits, got to the mass driver first. The weaving trusses of the curved structure didn't provide very much cover, but the Zeon gunfire all but stopped. If it was hit in the wrong way, the whole structure could collapse. Federation long range fire further pushed the Zeons back and for a moment it looked like the plan would go off without a hitch. But when Nicolas tried to make it to the mass driver, an enemy mobile suit blocked his path.

"It's a Gouf!" Nicolas gasped as he pulled back barely in time. He and his mobile suit were undamaged by the deadly swing of the Gouf's heat saber, but his beam carbine was ripped apart. On instinct, Nicolas drew his own melee weapon and swung at the attacking Gouf. The Gouf blocked it with its strong shield covering its left arm. The hit knocked the enemy mobile suit off balance a little, causing it to lose its grip on its sword. As the weapon fell to the ground, Nicolas backed away from the enemy. As he jumped away, the Gouf extended its now free sword hand and a metal whip-like structure shot out and wrapped around the leg of Nicolas's GM G. "Oh crap!"

Even before the battle had gotten that far, Ken's Gundam G was working its way around the mass driver for a clear shot. His beam carbine round was traveling toward the shoulder of the Gouf even before it was extending its whip. The beam sheared off the right arm of the enemy, just before the whip received the signal from the pilot to electrify the GM G. The Gouf fell after that and exploded.

Nicolas's GM G was unharmed by the whip itself, but the jolt from getting caught caused the GM G to land on its back rather than its feet. "Oww. That was close. Thanks, Captain. I owe you big for that one."

Tommy could be heard chuckling over the radio as he fired on the retreating Zeon forces. The battle wasn't quite over yet, but it was a pretty secured victory for the Federation. "I think that's the first time I've heard you curse, Nicolas," he said mirthfully.

"Yeah?" he asked a little defensively, "Well, I heard what those 'heat rod' whips do to you. And I like my internal organs uncooked!"

The Federation tanks were starting to reach the mass driver and pretty soon they'd have to abandon their cover to pursue the Zeons so they didn't regroup and counterattack. Ashley was about to move ahead when she noticed Ken's Gundam G hadn't move since it fired the shot that saved Nicolas. "Captain? Are you alright?"

_How_, Ken kept asking himself in his head, _did I know that would happen? How did I know that would happen?_ Ken lifted his shaking hand off the controls of his Gundam G. _I saw it in my head… Like those other times… What's happening to me?_

* * *

><p>And if you know Gundam, you know exactly what it is. Such is the disadvantage of doing a fanfiction of a thirty year old series. All that aside, I like what I did here. Not my favorite by any means, and I'll definitely have to expand on it when I get back around to it, but I don't really feel like I copped out in any serious way. Not much else to say. See you next time.<p> 


End file.
